Starry sky

Two things never cease to amaze me - the starry sky overhead and the moral law within us.
Immanuel Kant

Thousands of stars flash in the sky at night, and the picture of the starry sky always delights and amazes us.
And in order to navigate in this sea of ​​sparks of the universe, the stars in the sky were united into constellations. Total 88 constellations, of which 12 belong to the zodiacal. The stars in the constellations are designated by Greek letters, and the brightest of them have their own names.

So, night fell, garlands of stars flashed in the sky, and the Milky Way - our Galaxy - stretched out like a white river across the sky. Let's figure it out together in this set of distant suns and find the constellations.

Let's start with the summer-autumn sky
Let's get acquainted with the 4 constellations of the northern sky:
Are looking for Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia and Dragon.
In the middle latitudes of our country, these constellations, close to the North Pole of the world, are non-setting.
Even people far from astronomy can find in the sky Big Dipper, due to the great recognition of her the bucket becomes the starting point to find many other constellations.
So let's start with Big Dipper... Bucket in late summer and autumn - in the north, in winter - in the northeast.


Let's find the two outermost stars of this bucket. If mentally take a straight line through these two stars, then the first bright star will be polar Star constellations Ursa Minor... From it in the direction of the handle of the large bucket are the rest of the stars Ursa Minor.

Poems from the children's astronomical site will help to remember the stars.

THE BIG BEAR
I recognize by the BUCKET!
Seven stars are shining here
And here is their name:

DUBKHE illuminates the darkness,
MERAK burns next to him,
Side FEKDA with MEGRETS,
A daring fellow.
From MEGRETS for a while
ALIOT is located,

And behind him - MIZAR with ALKOR
(These two are shining in chorus).
Our ladle closes
The incomparable BENETNASH.
He points to the eye
The path to the constellation VOLOPASA,
Where ARKTUR beautiful shines,
Everyone will notice him now!
………………….
Find the constellation Dragon.
It kind of stretches between the buckets Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, leaving in the direction of Cepheus, Lyra, Hercules and Swan. More about these constellations later.

Constellation cassiopeia.
Look at the second star from the end Big Dipper bucket handles. The bright star bears the name Mizar, and next to it is Alcor. From Arabic, Mitsar is a horse, and Alkor is a rider.
Conduct a mental straight from Mitsar through the North Star and further about the same distance. Constellation in the form latin letter W, That's what it is Cassiopeia.

We must now be able to find constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Dragon.


And we are looking for a few more constellations
Cepheus, Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus, Charioteer and Pleiades

Constellation cepheus
Summer outside of a big city, you will be able to make out the strip of the Milky Way stretching from south to northeast. Between the Dragon and Cassiopeia you will find a constellation that resembles a pentagon or a house with a roof, which, as it were, "floats" along the Milky Way. it constellation cepheus... It is located just between the "kink" of the Dragon and Cassiopeia, and the "roof of the house" is not strict directed to the North Star.
You can connect the stars α and β Cassiopeia and extend this line a little.

Perseus
In August, it is slightly to the left and lower Cassiopeia, you can test yourself by drawing a line between the stars γ and δ Cassiopeia and extending three times further.
Andromeda
Note the chain of stars stretching from Perseus towards the south. This constellation Andromeda... If you draw a straight line from the North Star through Cassiopeia, this line will also point to the central part Andromeda... The central bright star of the constellation is Mirah. Above it, on moonless nights outside the city, you can see faint hazy speck... This is the famous The Andromeda Nebula - the gigantic spiral galaxy M31, the most distant object visible to the naked eye. The distance is about 2.5 million light years.


Pegasus
Pegasus wonderful by its square formed by four stars.
And up and to the left of the extreme star of the Pegasus square are visible three bright stars of the constellation Andromeda. Together they form a bucket.
The square of Pegasus will be indicated by δ, γ, ε and α of Cassiopeia, these two lines will intersect just in the area of ​​the square of Pegasus.


Auriga
You've probably noticed a bright yellow star to the left and below Perseus. it Chapel- the main star of the constellation Auriga, which is visible under the constellation Perseus.
If you walk along the chain of stars in the constellation Perseus, you will notice that the chain first goes vertically downward (4 stars), then turns to the right (3 stars). If you continue straight from these three stars to the right, you will find a silvery cloud, upon close examination it will disintegrate into 6-7 stars of a miniature "bucket". That's what it is scattered starry the Pleiades cluster included in the constellation Taurus.
……………………………
We are looking for Vega with Lyra, Swan, Eagle, Dolphin, and summer-autumntriangle

Back to the constellation Draco
The Dragon as it were, stretching between the scoops of the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, going towards Cepheus, Lyra with Vega, Hercules and the Swan.
At the constellation Dragon, there is four stars in the form of a trapezoid forming The "head" of the Dragon in its western part.
We are looking for Vega, in August - September, the star is clearly visible in the southwest.
Bright white star near the "head" of the Dragon and there is Vega, one of the brightest stars northern sky.


Swipe straight from the extreme star "bucket» Big Dipper (Dubge) through the "head" of the Dragon.
Vega will lie on the continuation of this straight line. Several stars form a figure that resembles a parallelogram - constellation lyra. Vega - staraconstellation lyra... After Arcturus (aBootes), it is the second brightest star in the northern sky. Vega shine + 0.03m.

Summer-autumn triangle

Vega- one of the peaks summer-autumn triangle, the rest of the peaks are bright stars Altair (alpha Eagle) and Deneb (alpha Cygnus).

Swan
One of the most beautiful constellations of our sky - Swan represents a cross with a bright star α Swan (Deneb) at the top, it looks like a bird soaring in the sky or a cross,
"Northern Cross". You can find it to the left of Lyra.

Eagle
Let's find the constellation Eagle. Look down from Vega, and about halfway to the horizon, you will find a bright star - Altair(α of the Eagle). Altair together with Deneb and Vega form
summer-autumn triangle.


Brightest in the evening world
Blue VEGA in LIRA !!!
Amazed by the beauty
So our DRAGON froze!

Between VEGA and DENEB
Draw a dotted line to the South -
There the EAGLE flies across the sky,
And ALTAIR sparkles!

All summer Summer Triangle visible in the south and southeast, in autumn - high in the south and southwest.
To the left of Altair you will find a weak constellation dolphin, The constellation is beautiful, resembles one that has emerged from the water dolphin.

Summer is the period of the Perseid meteor shower, which runs from 17 July to 24 August from maximum 12 August, against the background of stellar placers and the Milky Way, every now and then bright flashes of meteors ("shooting stars") will fly by. Do not miss!!
…….
Other constellations of the summer sky.

Our summer nights are white, the stars are visible only at the end of August, but for the sake of order I will write about the summer sky.
Constellation Bootes α Bootes (Arcturus).
To the left of Bootes, a semicircle facing downwards - constellation of northern crown, even more to the left constellation hercules, - a quadrangle with broken lines diverging from its corners (arms and legs of Hercules).
Under the constellation Hercules there is a constellation Ophiuchus that looks like an irregular polygon, and left and right from it constellation Snakes.
Bright stars of the summer sky!


Under the constellations Serpent and Ophiuchus is the constellation Scorpio, which resembles this animal. And to the right and below the constellation Libra.
Under the constellations Eagle and Shield located constellation Sagittarius.
Scientists suggest that it is in the direction of this constellation that the center of our galaxy is located.
Below the constellations Pegasus and Lesser Horse is constellation aquarius... It is easily recognizable by the so-called "propeller" of four stars that resemble this object.
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Constellations of the winter sky

Since the end of autumn and in winter we have been looking for Gemini, Orion, Taurus, Charioteer, Little Dog, Big Dog.
In January at about eight o'clock in the evening we will find B. Medveditsa's bucket. Let's draw a straight line from the weakest star of the bucket (Megrets) through the far right star of the bucket (Merak) to the East... On the path of your straight line, two bright stars located one above the other. These are the main stars constellation gemini... That star, which is higher -Castor, lower and brighter - Pollux.


In the south and southeast, we see a beautiful picture of the winter constellations. Seven stars brighter than the second magnitude are visible in a small area of ​​the sky. Almost at the zenith, a yellow Chapel of the Charioteer, under it - orange Aldebaran, to the left and below - Betelgeuse and Rigel, stars of Orion. Floating above the horizon Sirius shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. On the left, in the southeast, yellowish Procyon(α Lesser Dog) and Pollux from the constellation Gemini.
Unfortunately, Sirius is practically invisible in our latitudes.

The main character in the picture of the winter constellations is the hunter Orion... Its seven brightest stars are instantly remembered: three bright stars, form the Orion belt, above it, closer to the constellation Gemini, there is a reddish Betelgeuse, and to the right is a hot star Bellatrix(they mark the hunter's shoulders) and below a bright star Rigel and the star Saif points to his feet.


By the way, top star Orion's belt is located almost at the celestial equator, therefore, those stars below it belong to the southern hemisphere of the sky, those above it belong to the northern hemisphere.
There is a small misty speck under Orion's belt. This is the Orion Nebula, a gigantic cloud of interstellar gas, the cradle of a new generation of stars.

To the right and above the hunter is the constellation Taurus, it extended to the right letter U... The bull is furious and rushes towards Orion; Aldebaran marks the red eye of Taurus. Taurus's torso is marked with a small scoop Pleiades.Pleiades- the brightest open cluster earthly sky. A person can see 6-7 stars in the Pleiades with the naked eye.


Orion
Not afraid of winter and cold,
Girded tight,
Equipped for hunting
ORION speaking

Two stars from the Major League
IN ORION is RIGEL
In the lower right corner,
Like a bow on a shoe.
And on the left epaulette -
BETELGEISE shines brightly.
Three stars obliquely
Decorate the belt.

This belt is like a hint.
He is a heavenly guide.
If you go to the left
Miracle- SIRIUS you will find.
And from the right end
Path to the constellation Calf
He points straight
Into the red eye ALDEBARANA.

Under the feet of Orion is the small constellation of the Hare, and to the left of it, low above the horizon, is the constellation Big Dog... His main star Sirius is the brightest in the entire night sky of the Earth. Orion's other dog Little Dog marked with bright Procyon, is under Gemini.
To the left of Taurus under the constellation Perseus, familiar to us from the summer, find the constellation Charioteer(just under it there will be already familiar to us Twins). In the constellation Auriga there is a bright star, even brighter than Aldebaran. it Chapel.


Winter triangle
Once again we will find Betelgeuse(an orange bright star in Orion) and Procyon. Under Betelgeuse and to the right of Procyon low above the horizon we will see (if we see!) a bright white flicker Sirius - the brightest star starry sky of the earth!
Sirius - Procyon - Betelgeuse form winter triangle stars.


Unfortunately, the constellation Canis Major is a southern constellation and at the latitude of Moscow it rises low above the horizon, i.e. almost invisible.
If you decide to rush to the latitude of the Egyptian resorts in winter, then under Sirius you will find another bright star - Canopus(constellation Carina) is second the brightness of the star of the earthly sky after Sirius.
Luster of Sirius - minus 1.4m, Canopus - minus 0.6m. Shine Chapels + 0.1m, Aldebarana + 0.9m... And the shine Pole star only 2m.

…………………..
Constellations of the spring sky.
Let's connect Polar Star with two extreme stars Ursa Major and extend this line below. This will lead us to constellation Leo. This constellation features a bright star. Regulus(α Leo).
Between the constellations Leo and Gemini is located constellation Cancer.
To the left of the constellation Leo is a group of faint stars - constellation Coma.
Between the handle of the Big Dipper bucket and Veronica's Hair, you will see two stars forming constellation hounds.


Constellation Bootes... Resembles a pentagon elongated from top to bottom with a bright star in the bottom corner α Bootes (Arcturus)... Find Arcturus, it is enough to extend the line between the two extreme stars of the handle of the Big Dipper bucket down and here it is.
Combining δ, ε and α of Bootes, and extending this line downwards, we will find constellation virgo containing a bright star Spica (α Virgo).
…………………..


The stars are shining, shining ...
Sometimes I can't even believe
That the universe is so big.
Into the sky tarry black
I look, forgetting everything in the world ...
Still, it's great
That the stars shine for us at night!
................
For observation, it is good to have a flashlight that gives red light, it does not interfere with the adaptation of the eye to darkness. It is enough to put on a red cloth on a regular flashlight. In addition, you will need a map of the starry sky (preferably with an overlay circle). A similar map can be found in the Astronomical Calendar.
Well, how did you manage to find the pearls of the starry sky?
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I also have a stellar theme:

Constellations and stars in myths and legends

The night sky amazes with its beauty and countless number of heavenly fireflies. It is especially fascinating that their arrangement is structured, as if they were specially arranged in the right order, forming star systems. From ancient times, learned astrologers tried to count all these myriads of heavenly bodies and give them names. Today, a huge number of stars have been discovered in the sky, but this is just a small part of all existing immense Universe. Consider what constellations and luminaries are.

In contact with

Stars and their classification

A star is a celestial body that emits a huge amount of light and heat.

It consists mainly of helium (lat. Helium), as well as (lat. Hydrogenium).

The heavenly body is in a state of balance due to the pressure inside the body itself and its own.

Heat and light radiates as a result of thermonuclear reactions, occurring inside the body.

What are the types depending on life cycle and structure:

• Main sequence. This is the main life cycle of a luminary. This is exactly what it is, as well as the vast majority of others.
• Brown dwarf. A relatively small, dull object with a low temperature. The first such was opened in 1995.
• White dwarf. At the end of its life cycle, the ball begins to contract until its density balances out gravity. Then it goes out and cools down.
• Red giant. A huge body that emits a large amount of light, but not very hot (up to 5000 K).
• New. New stars do not light up, just old ones flare up with renewed vigor.
• Supernova. This is the same new one with a lot of light emission.
• Hypernova. It is a supernova, but much larger.
• Bright blue variables (LBV). The biggest ones as well as the hottest ones.
• Ultra X-ray sources (ULX). They give off a large amount of radiation.
• Neutron. It is characterized by fast rotation and strong magnetic field.
• Unique. Double, with different sizes.

Species dependent from the spectrum:

• Blue.
• White and blue.
• White.
• Yellow-white.
• Yellow.
• Orange.
• Red.

Important! Most of the stars in the sky are entire systems. What we see as one can actually be two, three, five and even hundreds of bodies of one system.

Names of stars and constellations

At all times, the stars have fascinated. They became the object of study, both from the mystical side (astrology, alchemy) and from the scientific side (astronomy). People searched for them, calculated, counted, put them into constellations, as well as d avali them names... Constellations are clusters of celestial bodies arranged in a specific sequence.

In the sky, under certain conditions, up to 6 thousand stars can be seen from different points. They have their own scientific names, but about three hundred of them also have personal names that have been received since ancient times. The stars are predominantly Arabic names.

The fact is that when astronomy was actively developing everywhere, the Western world was going through "dark ages", so its development lagged behind significantly. Here Mesopotamia succeeded most of all, China least of all.

The Arabs not only discovered new ones, but also renamed the heavenly bodies, who already had a Latin or Greek name. They went down in history with Arabic names. The constellations, however, mainly had Latin names.

Brightness depends on the light emitted, size and distance from us. The brightest star is the Sun. It is not the biggest, not the brightest, but closest to us.

The most beautiful luminaries with the greatest brightness. The first among them:

1. Sirius (Alpha Canis Major);
2. Canopus (Alpha Carina);
3. Toliman (Alpha Centauri);
4. Arcturus (Alpha Bootes);
5. Vega (Alpha Lyrae).

Naming periods

Conventionally, several periods can be distinguished in which people gave names to heavenly bodies.

Pre-antique period

Since ancient times, people have tried to "understand" the sky, and gave names to the night luminaries. No more than 20 names from those times have come down to us. Scientists from Babylon, Egypt, Israel, Assyria and Mesopotamia actively worked here.

Greek period

The Greeks did not particularly delve into astronomy. They gave names to only a small number of luminaries. Mostly, they took names from the names of the constellations or simply ascribed pre-existing names. All the astronomical knowledge of ancient Greece, as well as Babylon, was collected Greek scientist Ptolemy Claudius(I-II century) in the works "Almagest" and "Tetrabiblos".

Almagest (Great Construction) is the work of Ptolemy in thirteen books, where he, based on the work of Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 140 BC), tries to explain the structure of the Universe. He also lists the names of some of the brightest constellations.

Table of heavenly bodies described in the Almagest

Name of stars	Constellation name	Description, location
Sirius	Big dog	Located in the mouth of the constellation. It is also called the Dog. The brightest of the night sky.
Procyon	Small dog	On the hind legs.
Arcturus	Bootes	Did not enter the form of Bootes. Located below it.
Regulus	a lion	Located in the heart of Leo. Also referred to as Tsarskaya.
Spica	Virgo	On the left hand. Has another name - Kolos.
Antares	Scorpion	Located in the middle.
Vega	Lyre	Found on the sink. Another name for Alpha Lira.
Chapel	Auriga	Left shoulder. It is also called the Goat.
Canopus	Argo ship	On the keel of the ship.

Tetrabiblos is another work of Ptolemy Claudius in four books. The list of celestial bodies is supplemented here.

Roman period

The Roman Empire studied astronomy, but when this science began to actively develop, Rome fell. And behind the state, his science fell into decay. Nevertheless, about a hundred stars have Latin names, although this does not guarantee that they were given names their scientists are from Rome.

Arabic period

The work of Ptolemy Almagest was fundamental in the study of astronomy among the Arabs. They translated most of them into Arabic. Based on the religious beliefs of the Arabs, they changed the names of parts of the luminaries. Often names were given, based on the location of the body in the constellation. So, many of them have names or parts of names meaning a neck, a leg or a tail.

Arabic Names Table

Arabic name	Meaning	Stars with Arabic names	Constellation
Ras	Head	Alpha Hercules	Hercules
Algenib	Side	Alpha Perseus, Gamma Perseus	Perseus
Menkib	Shoulder	Alpha Orion, Alpha Pegasus, Beta Pegasus, Beta Charioteer, Zeta Perseus, Fita Centauri	Pegasus, Perseus, Orion, Centaurus, Charioteer
Rigel	Leg	Alpha Centauri, Beta Orion, Mu Virgo	Centaurus, Orion, Virgo
Rukba	Knee	Alpha Sagittarius, Delta Cassiopeia, Upsilon Cassiopeia, Omega Swan	Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, Swan
Sheat	Shin	Beta Pegasus, Delta Aquarius	Pegasus, Aquarius
Mirfak	Elbow	Alpha Perseus, Capa Hercules, Lambda Ophiuchus, Fita and Mu Cassiopeia	Perseus, Ophiuchus, Cassiopeia, Hercules
Menkar	Nose	Alpha Kita, Lambda Kita, Upsilon Raven	Keith, Raven
Markab	What moves	Alpha Pegasus, Tau Pegasus, Capa Sails	Ship Argo, Pegasus

Renaissance

Since the 16th century in Europe, antiquity has been reviving, and with it science. The Arabic names did not change, but Arab-Latin hybrids often appeared.

New clusters of celestial bodies practically did not open, but the old ones were supplemented by new objects. A significant event of that time was the release of the atlas of the starry sky "Uranometria".

It was compiled by amateur astronomer Johann Bayer (1603). On the atlas, he applied an artistic image of the constellations.

And most importantly, he suggested the principle of naming the luminaries with the addition of letters of the Greek alphabet. The brightest body of the constellation will be called "Alpha", the less bright "Beta" and so on until "Omega". For example, the brightest star in Scorpio is Alpha Scorpio, the less bright Beta Scorpio, then Gamma Scorpio, etc.

Nowadays

With the advent of powerful ones, they began to discover a huge number of luminaries. Now they are not given beautiful names, but simply assigned an index with a digital and alphabetic code. But it happens that celestial bodies are given nominal names. They are called names scientist discoverers, and now you can even buy the opportunity to name the luminary at will.

Important! The sun is not part of any constellation.

What are the constellations

Initially, the figures were figures formed by bright lights. Now scientists use them as landmarks of the celestial sphere.

The most famous constellations alphabetically:

1. Andromeda. Located in the northern hemisphere of the celestial sphere.
2. Twins. The luminaries with the greatest brightness are Pollux and Castor. Zodiac sign.
3. Big Dipper. Seven stars forming a bucket image.
4. Big Dog. Has the brightest star in the sky - Sirius.
5. Scales. Zodiacal, consisting of 83 objects.
6. Aquarius. Zodiacal, with asterism forming a jug.
7. Auriga. Its most outstanding object is the Capella.
8. Wolf. Located in the southern hemisphere.
9. Bootes. The brightest luminary is Arcturus.
10. Veronica's hair. Consists of 64 visible objects.
11. Crow. Best seen at mid-latitudes.
12. Hercules. There are 235 visible objects.
13. Hydra. The most important luminary is Alphard.
14. Pigeon. 71 body of the southern hemisphere.
15. Hounds Dogs. 57 visible objects.
16. Virgo. Zodiacal, with the brightest body - Spica.
17. Dolphin. It can be seen everywhere except Antarctica.
18. The Dragon. Northern Hemisphere, practically a pole.
19. Unicorn. Located on the milky way.
20. Altar. 60 visible stars.
21. Painter. There are 49 objects.
22. Giraffe. Faintly visible in the northern hemisphere.
23. Crane. The brightest is Alnair.
24. Hare. 72 celestial bodies.
25. Ophiuchus. 13th zodiac sign, but not included in this list.
26. Snake. 106 luminaries.
27. Golden Fish. 32 objects visible to the naked eye.
28. Indian. Faintly visible constellation.
29. Cassiopeia. Similar in shape to the letter "W".
30. Keel. 206 objects.
31. Whale. Located in the "water" zone of the sky.
32. Capricorn. Zodiacal, southern hemisphere.
33. Compass. 43 visible luminaries.
34. Stern. Located on the milky way.
35. Swan. Located in the northern part.
36. A lion. Zodiacal, northern part.
37. Flying fish. 31 objects.
38. Lyra. The brightest luminary is Vega.
39. Chanterelle. Dull.
40. Ursa Minor. Located above the North Pole. It has the North Star.
41. Small Horse. 14 luminaries.
42. Small Dog. A bright constellation.
43. Microscope. South part.
44. Fly. At the equator.
45. Pump. Southern sky.
46. The corner. Passes through the Milky Way.
47. Aries. The zodiac, which has the bodies of Mesarthim, Hamal and Sheratan.
48. Octant. At the south pole.
49. Eagle. At the equator.
50. Orion. Has a bright object - Rigel.
51. Peacock. Southern Hemisphere.
52. Sail. 195 luminaries of the southern hemisphere.
53. Pegasus. South of Andromeda. Its brightest stars are Markab and Enif.
54. Perseus. Discovered by Ptolemy. The first object is Mirfak.
55. Bake. Almost invisible.
56. Bird of paradise. Located near the South Pole.
57. Cancer. Zodiacal, faintly visible.
58. Cutter. South part.
59. Fishes. A large constellation divided into two parts.
60. Lynx. 92 visible luminaries.
61. Northern Crown. The shape of the crown.
62. Sextant. At the equator.
63. Net. Consists of 22 properties.
64. Scorpion. The first luminary is Antares.
65. Sculptor. 55 celestial bodies.
66. Sagittarius. Zodiacal.
67. Taurus. Zodiacal. Aldebaran is the brightest object.
68. Triangle. 25 stars.
69. Toucan. The Small Magellanic Cloud is located here.
70. Phoenix. 63 luminaries.
71. Chameleon. Small and dull.
72. Centaurus. Its brightest star for us, Proxima Centauri, is the closest to the Sun.
73. Cepheus. Has the shape of a triangle.
74. Compass. Near Alpha Centauri.
75. Watch. It has an elongated shape.
76. Shield. Near the equator.
77. Eridanus. Large constellation.
78. Southern Hydra. 32 celestial bodies.
79. South Crown. Faintly visible.
80. Southern Fish. 43 objects.
81. South Cross. In the form of a cross.
82. Southern Triangle. Has the shape of a triangle.
83. Lizard. No bright objects.

What are the constellations of the zodiac

Zodiac signs - constellations through which passes the Earth throughout the year, forming a conditional ring around the system. Interestingly, 12 signs of the zodiac are accepted, although Ophiuchus, which is not considered to be the zodiac, is also located on this ring.

Attention! There are no constellations.

By and large, there are no figures at all, composed of celestial bodies.

After all, we, looking at the sky, perceive it as plane in two dimensions, but the luminaries are not located on a plane, but in space, at a huge distance from each other.

They do not form any pattern.

Let's say the light from the closest to the Sun Proxima Centauri reaches us in almost 4.3 years.

And from another object of the same star system, Omega Centauri - reaches the earth in 16 thousand years. All divisions are rather arbitrary.

Constellations and stars - sky map, interesting facts

Names of stars and constellations

Output

It is impossible to calculate the reliable number of celestial bodies in the Universe. You can't even get close to the exact number. The stars are merging into galaxies. Our Milky Way galaxy alone numbers about 100,000,000,000. From Earth with the help of the most powerful telescopes about 55,000,000,000 galaxies can be found. With the advent of the Hubble Telescope, which is in Earth's orbit, scientists have discovered about 125 million galaxies, and each has billions, hundreds of billions of objects. It is only clear that there were no less than a trillion trillion luminaries in the Universe, but this is only a small part of what is real.

06/14/2019 at 11:49 AM · VeraSchegoleva · 49 810

10 most famous constellations in the sky

Currently, constellations are called the areas into which the celestial sphere is subdivided. With the help of them, you can navigate in the starry sky.

In the ancient world, people were also interested in astronomy. Of course, these teachings could not be called science in full.

People invented names for the bizarre shapes formed by the stars and called them constellations. The system was imperfect, some stars were part of several constellations, some did not interest anyone at all.

In 1922, the International Astronomical Union decided to divide the sky into regions. 88 constellations have been officially approved. You can see only 54. We have collected the top 10 most famous constellations in the sky.

10. Dragon

The Dragon- one of the most, its area is 1083 square degrees. It is rather difficult to distinguish it. Location - Northern Hemisphere, the area between Ursa Minor and Ursa Major.

The stars of the Dragon are dim, faint, the number of stars exceeding 6m (the magnitude of the measurement of brightness) is 80.

If you look at the sky in the Ursa Major region, you can see a long, curved line that ends in a quadrangle. This is the head of the dragon.

It is best to observe this constellation in summer and autumn, from May to December.

The history of the origin of the constellation is shrouded in myths and secrets. According to one version, the huge beast decided to fight the Olympic gods. Athena was very angry with him and threw the snake into the sky. And so the constellation of the Dragon appeared.

9. Cepheus

Location Cephei- North hemisphere. Its area is 588 square degrees, 148 stars can be seen with the naked eye.

Its closest neighbor is Ursa Minor, which will certainly be found by every person, even those who do not understand anything in astronomy.

Cephei's shape is an irregular pentagon. It is not here, nevertheless, on the territory of Russia, it can be observed all year round.

Cepheus is famous for the fact that in the future, the world's North Pole will move here. True, this will happen in 1000 years.

In Greek mythology, there is a version of the origin of the constellation. His prototype is the Ethiopian king Cepheus. Scientists disagree with this, as there is confirmation that the constellation appeared much later.

8. Centaurus

Centaurus- a rather impressive constellation in area (1060 square degrees). The inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere will not be able to enjoy its beauty.

Its location is in the Southern Hemisphere, the line from the Big Dipper to the constellation Virgo.

In Russia, the following principle applies: the further south the city is, the better the constellation is visible. But in our country there is no way to see it in its entirety. The constellation resembles a centaur in shape, it is a lot of bright stars.

If you believe the Greek, then the wise centaur Chiron is the son of the supreme deity Kronos and the beautiful nymph Filyra.

There is another prototype - this is the centaur Foul, Hercules sent him to heaven. He shot the centaur with a poisoned arrow.

7. Virgo

Constellation Virgo - the second largest, with an area of ​​1294 square degrees. Location - the equator, between the constellations Leo and Libra.

Virgo is also known for the fact that the point of the autumnal equinox is located here.

In the bed atlases, the constellation is depicted as a girl holding a spikelet of wheat. Of course, it is unlikely that an ordinary person will be able to see such a picture in the sky.

There is a landmark by which it is easy to find this constellation - this is the star of the first magnitude Spica. In total, 171 stars can be seen with the naked eye.

Ancient Greek myths explain the emergence of the constellation with an unusual history. The goddess of justice Dick was so unhappy with people that she chose to leave the Earth and flew into the sky. There she settled next to the symbol of justice, the constellation Libra.

6. Hydra

Hydra- the longest constellation, its area is 1300 sq. degrees. Location - Southern Hemisphere.

In Russia, it is best observed in late winter or spring. Residents of southern cities will be able to fully see the constellation.

229 stars can be observed without help and, but they are not particularly bright.

There are many interesting stars in the constellation: Alpha Hydra, Gamma, Xi Hydra, as well as open clusters.

The prototype is the Water Serpent. Apollo's raven went to fetch water and was absent for too long. As an excuse for the delay, the bird brought a serpent to the god. The angry Apollo threw a raven, a snake and a bowl of water into the sky. This is how the constellations Raven and Hydra appeared.

According to another version, Hydra is the enemy of Hercules, a seven-headed monster.

5. Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is located in the Northern Hemisphere, so in the middle latitudes you can observe it all year round, the best time is autumn.

The constellation looks like the letter W, its area is 598 square degrees, the number of visible stars is 90. Its silhouette is formed by 5 brightest stars.

The constellation is named after the wife of King Kefei. Also, Cassiopeia was the mother of Andromeda. This boastful woman was punished. She was tied to a throne, and she revolved around the pole, once a day Cassiopeia found herself in an inverted position, upside down.

4. Pegasus

Pegasus is a large constellation. Location - Northern Hemisphere. The area is 1120.8 square degrees. Without the use of any instruments, 166 stars can be viewed. The best time is late summer, early autumn.

Pegasus is a large square with a scattering of stars that look more like tentacles. Therefore, only people with a good imagination will be able to observe the winged horse.

In ancient Greek myths, Pegasus is a winged horse. After the beheading of Medusa the Gorgon by Perseus, the droplets of her blood turned into a horse.

3. Hercules

Location Hercules- North hemisphere. The constellation area is 1225 square degrees. It is considered one of the most recognizable.

The trapezoid is the titanium torso, the most visible part. The inhabitants of Russia can observe it in its entirety, only some part of the constellation is hidden behind the horizon at the moment of the lower culmination, the most favorable time is June.

The original name is Kneeling. The ancient poet Arat described the constellation as a suffering husband, the reasons for the suffering were unknown.

In the V BC. century, the constellation was renamed, it began to be called Hercules. Later it was named Hercules.

2. Big Dipper

Big Dipper- perhaps the most famous constellation, located in the northern hemisphere. Everyone found a bucket with a handle in the sky, at least once. The area of ​​the Big Dipper is 1280 square degrees, the third largest. You can see 125 with the naked eye.

Asterism (easily distinguishable group of stars) Big Dipper, has many other names. Moreover, this is not the only asterism in the constellation Ursa Major.

The history of the origin of the constellation is described in ancient Greek myths. Zeus saved the beautiful nymph Callisto from the wrath of the goddess Hera. To do this, he had to turn her into a bear.

1. Ursa Minor

Constellation Ursa Minor is circumpolar and located in the Northern Hemisphere. It is easy to find it near the constellation Ursa Major. We can say that these constellations are neighbors.

Available for observation all year round. At the moment, the North Pole of the world is located here. Asterisms: Small Bucket, Guardians of the Pole.

If we return to myths, the Ursa Minor is the dog of the beautiful nymph Callisto. Zeus turned her into a bear along with her mistress. Then he threw them into heaven, where they could gain eternal life.

A constellation is a section of the celestial sphere with all celestial objects projected onto it from the point of view of an earthly observer. Modern astronomers divide the entire sky into 88 constellations, the boundaries between which are drawn in the form of broken lines along the arcs of celestial parallels (small circles of the celestial sphere parallel to the celestial equator) and declination circles (large semicircles perpendicular to the equator) in the equatorial coordinate system of the 1875 era. constellations and their boundaries were established by decisions of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1922-1935. Henceforth, it was decided to consider these boundaries and the names of the constellations unchanged (Table 1).

The word "constellation" (from Latin constellatio) means "a collection (or group) of stars." In ancient times, "constellations" were called expressive groups of stars, which helped to memorize the pattern of the starry sky and, with its help, to navigate in space and time. Each nation had its own traditions of dividing the stars into constellations. Most of the constellations used by modern astronomers bear names and include bright stars that are traditional for European culture.

It should be understood that a constellation is not a specific area in outer space, but only a certain range of directions from the point of view of an earthly observer. Therefore, it is wrong to say: "The spaceship flew into the constellation Pegasus"; it will be right to say: "The spacecraft flew in the direction of the constellation Pegasus." The stars that form the constellation pattern are located at very different distances from us. In addition to stars in a certain constellation, both very distant galaxies and close objects of the solar system can be seen - all of them at the time of observation belong to this constellation. But over time, celestial objects can move from one constellation to another. This happens most quickly with close and rapidly moving objects: the Moon spends no more than two or three days in one constellation, planets - from several days to several years; and even some nearby stars have crossed constellation boundaries over the past century.

The visible area of ​​a constellation is determined by the solid angle that it occupies in the sky; it is usually indicated in square degrees (Table 2). For comparison: the disks of the Moon or the Sun occupy an area of ​​about 0.2 square meters in the sky. degrees, and the area of ​​the entire celestial sphere is about 41,253 sq. hail.

The names of the constellations are given in honor of mythical characters (Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, etc.) or animals (Leo, Dragon, Ursa Major, etc.), in honor of notable objects of antiquity or modernity (Libra, Altar, Compass, Telescope , Microscope, etc.), as well as simply by the names of those objects that resemble figures formed by bright stars (Triangle, Arrow, Southern Cross, etc.). Often one or more of the brightest stars in the constellation have their own names, for example, Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, Vega in the constellation Lyra, Capella in the constellation Auriga, etc. As a rule, the names of the stars are associated with the names of the constellations, for example, denote the body parts of a mythical character or animal.

Constellations are monuments of the ancient culture of man, his myths, his first interest in the stars. They help historians of astronomy and mythology to understand the way of life and thinking of ancient people. Constellations help modern astronomers navigate the sky and quickly determine the position of objects.

Table 1. Constellations in alphabetical order of Russian names

Table 1. CONSTELLATIONS IN ALPHABETIC ORDER OF RUSSIAN NAMES
Russian name	Latin name	Short designation
Andromeda	Andromeda	And
Twins	Gemini	Gem
Big Dipper	Ursa major	UMa
Big Dog	Canis major	CMa
scales	Libra	Lib
Aquarius	Aquarius	Aqr
Auriga	Auriga	Aur
Wolf	Lupus	Lup
Bootes	Bootes	Boo
Veronica's hair	Coma berenices	Com
Crow	Corvus	Crv
Hercules	Hercules	Her
Hydra	Hydra	Hya
Pigeon	Columba	Col
Hounds Dogs	Canes venatici	Cvn
Virgo	Virgo	Vir
Dolphin	Delphinus	Del
The Dragon	Draco	Dra
Unicorn	Monoceros	Mon
Altar	Ara	Ara
Painter	Pictor	Pic
Giraffe	Camelopardalis	Cam
Crane	Grus	Gru
Hare	Lepus	Lep
Ophiuchus	Ophiuchus	Oph
Snake	Serpens	Ser
Golden Fish	Dorado	Dor
Indian	Indus	Ind
Cassiopeia	Cassiopeia	Cas
Centaur (Centaurus)	Centaurus	Cen
Keel	Carina	Car
Whale	Cetus	Cet
Capricorn	Capricornus	Cap
Compass	Pyxis	Pyx
Stern	Puppis	Pup
Swan	Cygnus	Cyg
a lion	Leo	Leo
Flying fish	Volans	Vol
Lyre	Lyra	Lyr
Chanterelle	Vulpecula	Vul
Ursa Minor	Ursa Minor	UMi
Small Horse	Equuleus	Equ
Small Lion	Leo Minor	LMi
Little Dog	Canis minor	CMi
Microscope	Microscopium	Mic
Fly	Musca	Mus
Pump	Antlia	Ant
Square	Norma	Nor
Aries	Aries	Ari
Octant	Octans	Oct
Eagle	Aquila	Aql
Orion	Orion	Ori
Peacock	Pavo	Pav
Sail	Vela	Vel
Pegasus	Pegasus	Peg
Perseus	Perseus	Per
Bake	Fornax	For
Bird of paradise	Apus	Aps
Cancer	Cancer	Cnc
Chisel (sculptor)	Caelum	Cae
Fishes	Pisces	Psc
Lynx	Lynx	Lyn
Northern Crown	Corona borealis	CrB
Sextant	Sextans	Sex
Net	Reticulum	Ret
Scorpion	Scorpius	Sco
Sculptor	Sculptor	Scl
Table Mountain	Mensa	Men
Arrow	Sagitta	Sge
Sagittarius	Sagittarius	Sgr
Telescope	Telescopium	Tel
Taurus	Taurus	Tau
Triangle	Triangulum	Tri
Toucan	Tucana	Tuc
Phoenix	Phoenix	Phe
Chameleon	Chamaeleon	Cha
Cepheus	Cepheus	Cep
Compass	Circinus	Cir
Watch	Horologium	Nor
Bowl	Crater	Crt
Shield	Scutum	Sct
Eridanus	Eridanus	Eri
Southern hydra	Hydrus	Hyi
South Crown	Corona australis	CrA
Southern Fish	Piscis Austrinus	PsA
South Cross	Crux	Cru
Southern Triangle	Triangulum australe	TaA
Lizard	Lacerta	Lac

Table 2. Constellations: Area and number of stars visible to the naked eye

Table 2. CONSTELLATIONS: AREA AND NUMBER OF VISIBLE STARS
Russian name	Square sq. hail.	NUMBER OF STARS
		brighter than 2.4	2,4–4,4	4,4–5,5	complete
Andromeda	722	3	14	37	54
Twins	514	3	16	28	47
Big Dipper	1280	6	14	51	71
Big Dog	380	5	13	38	56
scales	538	0	7	28	35
Aquarius	980	0	18	38	56
Auriga	657	2	9	36	47
Wolf	334	1	20	29	50
Bootes	907	2	12	39	53
Veronica's hair	386	0	3	20	23
Crow	184	0	6	5	11
Hercules	1225	0	24	61	85
Hydra	1303	1	19	51	71
Pigeon	270	0	7	17	24
Hounds Dogs	465	0	2	13	15
Virgo	1294	1	15	42	58
Dolphin	189	0	5	6	11
The Dragon	1083	1	16	62	79
Unicorn	482	0	6	30	36
Altar	237	0	8	11	19
Painter	247	0	2	13	15
Giraffe	757	0	5	40	45
Crane	366	2	8	14	24
Hare	290	0	10	18	28
Ophiuchus	948	2	20	33	55
Snake	637	0	13	23	36
Golden Fish	179	0	4	11	15
Indian	294	0	4	9	13
Cassiopeia	598	3	8	40	51
Centaur (Centaurus)	1060	6	31	64	101
Keel	494	4	20	53	77
Whale	1231	1	14	43	58
Capricorn	414	0	10	21	31
Compass	221	0	3	9	12
Stern	673	1	19	73	93
Swan	804	3	20	56	79
a lion	947	3	15	34	52
Flying fish	141	0	6	8	14
Lyre	286	1	8	17	26
Chanterelle	268	0	1	28	29
Ursa Minor	256	2	5	11	18
Small Horse	72	0	1	4	5
Small Lion	232	0	2	13	15
Little Dog	183	1	3	9	13
Microscope	210	0	0	15	15
Fly	138	0	6	13	19
Pump	239	0	1	8	9
Square	165	0	1	13	14
Aries	441	1	4	23	28
Octant	291	0	3	14	17
Eagle	652	1	12	34	47
Orion	594	7	19	51	77
Peacock	378	1	10	17	28
Sail	500	3	18	55	76
Pegasus	1121	1	15	41	57
Perseus	615	1	22	42	65
Bake	398	0	2	10	12
Bird of paradise	206	0	4	6	10
Cancer	506	0	4	19	23
Cutter	125	0	1	3	4
Fishes	889	0	11	39	50
Lynx	545	0	5	26	31
Northern Crown	179	1	4	17	22
Sextant	314	0	0	5	5
Net	114	0	3	8	11
Scorpion	497	6	19	37	62
Sculptor	475	0	3	12	15
Table Mountain	153	0	0	8	8
Arrow	80	0	4	4	8
Sagittarius	867	2	18	45	65
Telescope	252	0	2	15	17
Taurus	797	2	26	70	98
Triangle	132	0	3	9	12
Toucan	295	0	4	11	15
Phoenix	469	1	8	18	27
Chameleon	132	0	5	8	13
Cepheus	588	1	14	42	57
Compass	93	0	2	8	10
Watch	249	0	1	9	10
Bowl	282	0	3	8	11
Shield	109	0	2	7	9
Eridanus	1138	1	29	49	79
Southern hydra	243	0	5	9	14
South Crown	128	0	3	18	21
Southern Fish	245	1	4	10	15
South Cross	68	3	6	11	20
Southern Triangle	110	1	4	7	12
Lizard	201	0	3	20	23
TOTAL NUMBER		88	779	2180	3047

Ancient constellations.

The first ideas of people about the starry sky came to us from the pre-written period of history: they were preserved in material cultural monuments. Archaeologists and astronomers have found that the most ancient asterisms - characteristic groups of bright stars - were identified in the sky by man in the Stone Age, more than 15 thousand years ago. Some researchers believe that the first celestial images appeared simultaneously with the birth of the first drawings embodied in rock art, when the development of the left (logical) hemisphere of the human brain made it possible to identify an object with its flat image.

Two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, played a vital role for ancient man. By observing their movement, people discovered some important phenomena. So, they noticed that the Sun's daytime path across the sky depends on the season: it rises to the north in the spring and descends to the south in the fall. They also noticed that the Moon and bright "moving stars", which the Greeks later called "planets", move among the stars in roughly the same path as the Sun. And they also noticed that in different seasons of the year, different, but quite definite stars rise shortly before morning, and other stars set immediately after sunset.

To memorize the movement of the Sun, Moon and planets, people marked the most important stars lying in the path of the moving stars. Later, having created gods for themselves, they identified some of them with the stars in the sky. The ancient Sumerians, who lived in the Middle East 5,000 years ago, gave names to many famous constellations, especially in the Zodiac - the region of the sky through which the paths of the Sun, Moon and planets pass. Similar groups of stars were distinguished by the inhabitants of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, Phenicia, Greece and other regions of the Eastern Mediterranean.

As you know, the gravitational influence of the Moon and the Sun on our planet causes a slow cone-shaped movement of the earth's axis, which leads to the displacement of the vernal equinox point along the ecliptic from east to west. This phenomenon is called precession, i.e. anticipating the equinox ( cm.: Earth - Earth Movement - Precession). Under the influence of precession, over several millennia, the position of the earth's equator and the celestial equator associated with it changes noticeably relative to fixed stars; As a result, the annual course of the constellations across the sky becomes different: for residents of certain geographic latitudes, some constellations become observable over time, while others hide under the horizon for many millennia. But the Zodiac always remains the Zodiac, since the plane of the earth's orbit is practically unchanged; The sun will always move across the sky among the same stars as it does today.

In 275 BC. Greek poet Aratus in a poem Phenomena described the constellations known to him. As studies of modern astronomers have shown, Arat in Phenomena used a much earlier description of the celestial sphere. Since the precession of the earth's axis changes the visibility of the constellations from epoch to epoch, the list of constellations of Aratus makes it possible to date the original source of the poem and determine the geographical latitude of observations. Independent researchers came to similar results: E. Maunder (1909) dated the original to 2500 BC, A. Cromellin (1923) - 2460 BC, M. Owenden (1966) - c. 2600 BC, A. Roy (1984) - c. 2000 BC, S.V. Zhitomirsky - c. 1800 BC Observers are located at 36 degrees north latitude.

Now we call the constellations described by Arat "ancient". Four centuries later, in the second century AD, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy described 48 constellations, indicating the positions of the brightest stars in them; 47 of these constellations have retained their names to this day, and one large constellation, Argo, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, was divided into four smaller constellations in the 18th century: Carina, Korma, Sails and Compass.

Of course, different peoples divided the sky in different ways. For example, in ancient China, a map was distributed in which the starry sky was divided into four parts, in each of them there were seven constellations, i.e. only 28 constellations. And the Mongolian scientists of the 18th century. numbered 237 constellations. In European science and literature, those constellations that were used by the ancient inhabitants of the Mediterranean have become entrenched. From these countries (including Northern Egypt), about 90% of the entire sky can be seen during the year. However, for the peoples living far from the equator, a significant part of the sky is inaccessible for observation: only half of the sky is visible at the pole, and about 70% at the latitude of Moscow. For this reason, the southernmost stars were not available even to the inhabitants of the Mediterranean; this part of the sky was divided into constellations only in modern times, in the era of geographical discoveries.

As a result of the precession, the vernal equinox has moved from the constellation Taurus through Aries to Pisces over the past 2 millennia since ancient times. This led to an apparent displacement of the entire zodiacal row of constellations by two positions (since the counting by tradition starts from the constellation in which the vernal equinox is located). For example, Pisces was at first the eleventh zodiac constellation, and now the first; Taurus was the first - became the third. At about 2600, the vernal equinox will move from Pisces to Aquarius, and then this constellation will become the first in the Zodiac. Note that the zodiac signs, which are used by astrologers to designate equal areas of the ecliptic, are rigidly associated with the equinox points and follow them. Two millennia ago, when the classic manuals were written, which are still used by astrologers, the zodiac signs were located in the constellations of the same name of the zodiac. But the displacement of the equinox points led to the fact that the zodiac signs are now located in other constellations. The sun now falls into a certain sign of the zodiac 2–5 weeks earlier than it gets to the constellation of the same name. ( Cm... ZODIAC).

Constellations of the new time.

The constellations described by Ptolemy for many centuries have faithfully served sailors and guides of caravans in the desert. But after the circumnavigation of the world by Magellan (1518-1521) and other navigators, it became clear that sailors needed new guiding stars for successful orientation in southern latitudes. In 1595-1596, during the expedition of the Dutch merchant Frederik de Houtman (1571-1627) around the Cape of Good Hope to the island of Java, his navigator Peter Dirckszoon Keyzer (also known as Petrus Theodori, Petrus Theodori) singled out 12 new southern constellations: Crane, Dora Fish, Indian, Flying Fish, Fly, Peacock, Bird of Paradise, Toucan, Phoenix, Chameleon, Southern Hydra and Southern Triangle. These stellar groups took their final shape a little later, when they were plotted on celestial globes, and the German astronomer Johannes Bayer (1572-1625) depicted them in his atlas Uranometry (Uranometria, 1603).

The appearance of new constellations in the southern sky prompted some enthusiasts to start redistributing the northern sky. Three new northern constellations (Dove, Unicorn and Giraffe) were introduced in 1624 by Jacob Bartsch, Johannes Kepler's son-in-law. Seven more, mainly northern constellations (Hounds Dogs, Chanterelle, Lesser Leo, Lynx, Sextant, Shield and Lizard) were introduced by the Polish astronomer Jan Hevelius, using stars in areas of the sky not covered by the constellations of Ptolemy. Their description is published in the atlas Uranography (Prodromus astronomiae, 1690), published after the death of Hevelius. French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762), conducting observations at the Cape of Good Hope in 1751-1753, isolated and cited in his The catalog of stars of the southern sky (Coelum australe stelliferum, 1763) 17 more southern constellations: Painter, Carina, Compass, Poop, Microscope, Pump, Square, Octant, Sails, Furnace, Cutter, Grid, Sculptor, Table Mountain, Telescope, Compass and Clock, named after the instruments of science and art. They were the last of the 88 constellations currently used by astronomers.

Of course, attempts to rename parts of the night sky were much greater than the number of new constellations that have survived to this day. Many compilers of star charts in the 17th – 19th centuries. tried to introduce new constellations. For example, the first Russian star atlas by Cornelius Reissig, published in St. Petersburg in 1829, contained 102 constellations. But not all proposals of this kind were unconditionally accepted by astronomers. Sometimes the introduction of new constellations was justified; an example of this is the division of the large constellation of the southern sky Ship Argo into four parts: Stern, Carina, Sails and Compass. Since this region of the sky is extremely rich in bright stars and other interesting objects, no one objected to its division into small constellations. With the general agreement of astronomers, great scientific instruments were located in the sky - Microscope, Telescope, Compass, Pump, Furnace (laboratory), Clock.

But there were also unsuccessful attempts to rename the constellations. For example, European monks have repeatedly tried to "Christianize" the heavenly vault, i.e. expel from it the heroes of pagan legends and populate the characters of the Holy Scriptures. At the same time, the constellations of the Zodiac were replaced by images of the 12 apostles, etc. The whole starry sky was literally redrawn by a certain Julius Schiller from Augsburg, who published in 1627 an atlas of the constellations under the title “ Christian starry sky... ". But, despite the enormous power of the church in those years, the new names of the constellations did not receive recognition.

There were also many attempts to give the constellations the names of living monarchs and commanders: Charles I and Frederick II, Stanislav II and George III, Louis XIV and even the great Napoleon, after whom they wanted to rename the constellation Orion. But not a single new name that came to "heaven" for political, religious and other opportunistic reasons managed to stay on it for a long time.

Not only the names of monarchs, but even the names of scientific instruments did not always linger in heaven. So, in 1789, the astronomer of the Vienna Observatory Maximillian Hell (1720-1792) proposed the constellation Tubus Herschelii Major (Herschel Large Telescope) in honor of the famous 20-foot reflector William Herschel. He wanted to place this constellation between Charioteer, Lynx and Gemini, since it was in Gemini that Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. And the second small constellation Tubus Herschelii Minor, in honor of Herschel's 7-foot reflector, Hell suggested isolating Taurus from the faint stars to the east of Hyades ... However, even such ideas, dear to the astronomical heart, did not find support.

The German astronomer Johann Bode (1747–1826) proposed in 1801 to distinguish the constellation Lochium Funis (Sea Log) near the constellation Argo Ship in honor of the instrument for measuring the speed of the ship; and next to Sirius, he wanted to place the constellation Officina Typographica in honor of the 350th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. In 1806, the English scientist Thomas Jung (1773–1829) proposed between Dolphin, Little Horse and Pegasus to distinguish a new constellation "Voltaic Battery" in honor of the galvanic cell invented in 1799 by the Italian Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). The constellation "Sundial" (Solarium) also did not stay in the sky.

Some complex names of the constellations have become simplified over time: "Chanterelle with a goose" became simply Chanterelle; The South Fly became simply the Fly (as the North Fly quickly disappeared); The Chemical Furnace became the Furnace, and the Navigator's Compass was simply the Compass.

Official constellation boundaries.

For centuries, the constellations did not have clearly defined boundaries; usually on maps and star globes, the constellations were divided by curved intricate lines that did not have a standard position. Therefore, since the formation of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), one of its first tasks was to delimit the starry sky. At the 1st General Assembly of the IAU, held in 1922 in Rome, astronomers decided that it was time to finally divide the entire celestial sphere into parts with precisely defined boundaries and this, by the way, put an end to all attempts to reshape the starry sky. In the names of the constellations, it was decided to adhere to the European tradition.

It should be noted that although the names of the constellations remained traditional, scientists were not at all interested in the figures of the constellations, which are usually depicted by mentally connecting bright stars with straight lines. On star charts, these lines are drawn only in children's books and school textbooks; they are not needed for scientific work. Now astronomers call constellations not groups of bright stars, but parts of the sky with all objects on them, so the problem of determining a constellation is reduced only to drawing its boundaries.

But the boundaries between the constellations turned out to be not so easy to draw. Several famous astronomers worked on this task, trying to preserve historical continuity and, if possible, prevent stars with their own names (Vega, Spica, Altair, ...) and well-established designations (a Lyrae, b Perseus, ...) from entering the "Alien" constellations. At the same time, it was decided to make the boundaries between the constellations in the form of broken lines passing only along the lines of constant declinations and right ascensions, since it is easier to fix these boundaries in a mathematical form.

At the general assemblies of the IAU in 1925 and 1928, lists of constellations were adopted and the boundaries between most of them were approved. In 1930, on behalf of the IAU, the Belgian astronomer Eugene Delport published maps and detailed descriptions of the new boundaries of all 88 constellations. But even after that, some refinements were still introduced, and only in 1935, by the decision of the IAS, an end was put in this work: the division of the sky was completed.

Constellation names.

The Latin names of the constellations are canonical; they are used by astronomers of all countries in their scientific practice. But in each country, these names are also translated into their own language. Sometimes these translations are controversial. For example, in Russian there is no single tradition of the name of the constellation Centaurus: it is translated as Centaurus or as Centaurus. Over the years, the tradition of translating such constellations as Cepheus (Kefei, Cepheus), Coma Berenices (Hair of Veronica, Hair of Berenice), Canes Venatici (Greyhounds, Hounds, Dogs, Hounds) has changed. Therefore, in books of different years and different authors, the names of the constellations may differ slightly.

On the basis of the Latin names of the constellations, abbreviated three-letter designations were also adopted for them: Lyr for Lyra, UMa for Ursa Major, etc. (Table 1). Usually they are used to indicate the stars in these constellations: for example, the star Vega, the brightest in the constellation Lyra, is denoted as a Lyrae (genitive from Lyra), or in short - a Lyr. Sirius - a CMa, Algol - b Per, Alkor - 80 UMa, etc. In addition, the four-letter designations of the constellations were adopted, but they are practically not used.

In addition to the officially approved ones, each country has its own, popular names for the constellations. Usually these are not even constellations, but asterisms - expressive groups of bright stars. For example, in Russia, seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major were called Bucket, Cart, Elk, Rocker, etc. In the constellation Orion, the Belt and Sword stood out under the names Three Kings, Arshinchik, Kichigi, Grabli. The Pleiades star cluster, which was not singled out by astronomers as a separate constellation, nevertheless, among many peoples had its own name; in Russia his name is Stozhary, Sieve, Beehive, Lapot, Nest (Duck's Nest), etc.

Names and designations of stars.

There are over 100 billion stars in our Galaxy. About 0.004% of them are cataloged, and the rest are unnamed and even uncounted. However, all bright stars and even many faint ones have their own names in addition to their scientific designation; they received these names in antiquity. Many of the names of stars now in use, for example, Aldebaran, Algol, Deneb, Rigel, etc., are of Arabic origin. Now astronomers know about three hundred historical names of stars. Often these are the names of body parts of those figures that gave the name to the entire constellation: Betelgeuse (in the constellation Orion) - "the shoulder of a giant", Denebola (in the constellation Leo) - "lion's tail", etc.

Table 3 shows the names, designations and magnitudes (in magnitudes of the visual range) for some of the popular stars. These are mainly the brightest stars; and the group of faint stars in the constellation Taurus: Alcyone, Asteropa, Atlas, Maya, Merope, Pleion, Taygeta and Electra are the famous Pleiades.

Starting at the end of the 16th century. detailed study of the sky, astronomers were faced with the need to have designations for all stars, without exception, visible with the naked eye, and later in a telescope. In a beautifully illustrated Uranometry Johann Bayer, where the constellations and legendary figures associated with their names are depicted, the stars were first designated by letters of the Greek alphabet approximately in decreasing order of their brilliance: a - the brightest star in the constellation, b - the second brightest, etc. When the letters of the Greek alphabet were lacking, Bayer used the Latin. The full designation of a star according to the Bayer system consists of a letter and the Latin name of the constellation. For example, Sirius, the brightest star of Canis Major, is denoted as a Canis Majoris, or abbreviated as a CMa; Algol is the second brightest star in Perseus, designated as b Persei, or b Per.

Later, John Flamsteed (1646–1719), the first Astronomer Royal in England to determine the exact coordinates of stars, introduced a system of their notation that was not related to brightness. In each constellation, he numbered the stars in the order of increasing right ascension, i.e. in the order in which they cross the celestial meridian. So, Arcturus, aka Bootis, is designated by Flamsteed as 16 Bootis. On modern maps of the starry sky, the ancient proper names of bright stars (Sirius, Canopus, ...) and Greek letters according to the Bayer system are usually applied; Bayer's designations in Latin letters are rarely used. The rest, less bright stars are designated by numbers according to the Flamsteed system.

As more and more deep catalogs of the starry sky are published, containing data on dimmer stars, new notation systems adopted in each of these catalogs are regularly introduced into scientific practice. Therefore, a very serious problem is the cross-identification of stars in different catalogs: after all, one and the same star can have dozens of different designations. Special databases are being created to facilitate the search for information about a star by its various designations; the most complete such databases are maintained at the Astronomical Data Center in Strasbourg (Internet address: cdsweb.u–strasbg.fr).

Some outstanding (but by no means the brightest) stars are often named after the astronomers who first described their unique properties. For example, Barnard's Flying Star is named after the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard (1857–1923), who discovered its record-breaking proper motion in the sky. It is followed by the speed of its own motion "Kaptein's star", named after the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Cornelius Kaptein (1851-1922) who discovered this fact. Also known are "Herschel's garnet star" (m Cep, a very red giant star), "van Maanen's star" (the closest single white dwarf), "van Biesbruck's star" (a light of record low mass), "Plaskett's star" (a record massive double star), "Babcock's star" (with a record strong magnetic field) and some more, in general - about two dozen remarkable stars. It should be noted that these names are not approved by anyone: astronomers use them informally, as a sign of respect for the work of their colleagues.

Of particular interest in studying the evolution of stars are variable stars that change their brightness over time ( cm... VARIABLE STARS). A special notation system is adopted for them, the standard of which is set by the "General Catalog of Variable Stars" (Internet address: www.sai.msu.su/groups/cluster/gcvs/gcvs/ or lnfm1.sai.msu.ru/GCVS/gcvs/ ). Variable stars are denoted by Latin capital letters from R to Z, and then combinations of each of these letters with each of the following letters from RR to ZZ, after which combinations of all letters from A to Q are used with each subsequent letter, from AA to QZ (from all combinations the letter J, which is easy to confuse with the letter I). The number of such letter combinations is 334. Therefore, if more variable stars are discovered in a constellation, they are designated by the letter V (from variable - variable) and a serial number, starting from 335. A three-letter designation of the constellations is added to each designation, for example, R CrB , S Car, RT Per, FU Ori, V557 Sgr, etc. It is customary to give designations in this system only to variable stars of our Galaxy. Bright variables from the number of stars designated by Greek letters (according to Bayer) do not receive other designations.

Table 3. Proper names and brilliance of some stars

Table 3. OWN NAMES AND BRIGHTNESS OF SOME STARS
Name	Designation	Shine (star)
Acrux	a Cru	0,8
Algenib	g Peg	2,8
Algol	b Per	2,1–3,4
Aliot	e UMa	1,8
Albireo	b Cyg	3,0
Aldebaran	a Tau	0,9
Alderamin	a Cep	2,5
Alcor	80 UMa	4,0
Altair	a Aql	0,8
Alcyone	h Tau	2,9
Antares	a Sco	1,0
Arcturus	a boo	–0,04
Asterope	21 Tau	5,3
Atlas	27 Tau	3,6
Achernar	a Eri	0,5
Bellatrix	g Ori	1,6
Benetnash	h UMa	1,9
Betelgeuse	a Ori	0,5
Vega	a Lyr	0,03
Gem	a CrB	2,2
Deneb	a Cyg	1,3
Denebola	b Leo	2,1
Dubhe	a UMa	1,8
Canopus	a car	–0,7
Chapel	a Aur	0,1
Castor	a Gem	1,6
Mayan	20 Tau	3,9
Markab	a Peg	2,5
Merak	b UMa	2,4
Merope	23 Tau	4,2
Of the world	o Cet	3,1–12
Mirah	b And	2,1
Mizar	z UMa	2,1
Pleion	28 Tau	5,1
Pollux	b Gem	1,1
Polar	a UMi	2,0
Procyon	a CMi	0,4
Regulus	a Leo	1,4
Rigel	b Ori	0,2
Sirius	a CMa	–1,5
Spica	a Vir	1,0
Taygeta	19 Tau	4,3
Toliman	a Cen	–0,3
Fomalhaut	a PsA	1,2
Electra	17 Tau	3,7

Description of the constellations (in alphabetical order of Russian names).

A detailed description of the types of celestial objects mentioned below can be found in the articles: GALAXIES, STARS, QUASAR, INTERSTELLAR MATTER, MILK WAY, NEUTRON STAR, NEW STAR, VARIABLE STARS, PULSAR, SUPER NAVY STARS.

Andromeda.

In Greek myths, Andromeda is the daughter of the Ethiopian king Cepheus and the queen Cassiopeia. And Perseus saved Andromeda from the sea monster sent by Poseidon. In the sky, all the characters of this legend are located side by side.

The constellation Andromeda is easy to find if you find 4 bright stars in the southern side of the sky on an autumn evening - the Big Square of Pegasus. In its northeastern corner is the star Alferatz (a And), from which to the northeast, towards Perseus, three chains of stars that make up Andromeda diverge. Its three brightest stars are Alferatz, Mirach and Alamak (a, b and g of Andromeda), and Alamak is an amazing double star.

The most important object in the constellation is the spiral galaxy Andromeda Nebula (M 31, according to the Messier catalog) with its two satellites - the dwarf galaxies M 32 and NGC 205 (NGC - New General Catalog, one of the popular catalogs of nebulae, star clusters and galaxies). On a moonless night, the Andromeda Nebula can be seen even with the naked eye and is clearly visible through binoculars; you should look for it to the northwest of the star n And. Although back in the X century. the Persian astronomer al-Sufi observed the Andromeda Nebula, calling it "a small cloud", but European scientists discovered it only at the beginning of the 17th century. It is the closest spiral galaxy to us, about 2.5 million light years distant. Outwardly, it resembles a pale oval the size of the disk of the moon. In reality, its diameter is about 180 thousand light years, and it contains about 300 billion stars.

Other interesting objects in this constellation: open star cluster NGC 752, planetary nebula NGC 7662 and one of the most beautiful edge-on spiral galaxies, NGC 891.

Twins.

The bright stars Castor ("coachman", a Gem) and Pollux ("fist fighter", b Gem), 4.5 degrees apart, represent the heads of human figures, whose feet stand on the Milky Way, adjacent to Orion. Castor looks like a single star to the naked eye, but it is actually a tiny cluster of six stars, 45 light-years distant from the Sun. These 6 stars are grouped into three pairs that can be seen with a small telescope or strong binoculars. Two bright blue-white components with apparent magnitudes of 2.0 and 2.7 make up a visual binary with an angular distance of 6I, orbiting a common center of mass with a period of about 400 years. Each of them is a binary system with orbital periods of 9.2 and 2.9 days. The third component is at a distance of 73I from them, consists of two red dwarfs and is an eclipsing binary, changing its brightness from 8.6 to 9.1 magnitude with a period of 0.8 days.

The constellation Gemini is known as a very "fruitful": within it in 1781 William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, and in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto. Of the interesting objects to observe, it contains the star cluster M 35 and the Eskimo planetary nebula (NGC 2392). The binary star U Gem has components so close to each other that matter from one of them flows to the surface of the other, which is a white dwarf (see STARS). With an interval of several months, thermonuclear reactions begin on the surface of the white dwarf, leading to an explosion: for 1–2 days, the brightness of the star increases from 14 to 9 magnitudes. Therefore, the star U Gem is called a dwarf nova.

Other interesting objects include the open cluster M 35 and the Eskimo planetary nebula (or Clown, NGC 2392), consisting of a 10 magnitude star surrounded by a bright shell.

Big Dipper.

The Greek myth is widely known about how the beautiful nymph Callisto Zeus turned into a bear in order to save her from the revenge of his wife, Hera. Died soon from the arrow of Artemis, Zeus lifted the bear-Callisto to heaven in the form of the constellation B. Medveditsa. However, this large constellation is much older than the Greek myth about it: it was probably the first to be highlighted in the sky by ancient people. Its seven bright stars form the famous Bucket; this asterism is known among many peoples under different names: Plow, Elk, Cart, Seven Sages, etc. All the stars of the Bucket have their own Arabic names: Dubhe (a Ursa Major) means "bear"; Merak (b) - "loin"; Fekda (g) - "thigh"; Megrets (d) - "the beginning of the tail"; Aliot (e) - the meaning is not clear; Mizar (z) - "sash". The last star in the handle of the Bucket is called Benetnash or Alkaid (h); in Arabic, "al-Qa'id banat our" means "leader of the mourners"; in this case, asterism is no longer thought of as a bear, but as a funeral procession: in front of the mourners, led by the leader, and behind them are the funeral stretchers.

B. Medveditsa's bucket is a rare case when the designation of stars in Greek letters is not in decreasing order of their brightness, but simply in the order of their arrangement. Therefore, the brightest star is not a, but e. The stars Merak and Dubhe are called “pointers” because a straight line drawn through them abuts the North Star. Near Mitsar, the keen eye sees the fourth-magnitude star Alcor (80 UMa), which in Arabic means "forgotten" or "insignificant".

One of the largest planetary nebulae, the Owl (M 97), as well as many galaxies and their clusters are visible in B. Medveditsa. Spiral galaxy M 101 is visible face-on, while spiral M 81 and peculiar M 82 form the nucleus of one of the nearest group of galaxies, the distance to which is about 7 million light years.

Big Dog.

In this winter constellation is the brightest star of the night sky - Sirius; his name comes from the Greek. seirios, "burning brightly". The true luminosity of Sirius slightly exceeds the solar one - only 23 times (the luminosities of many other stars are hundreds and thousands of times higher than the solar one). Why, then, does this blue and white star look so bright? The reason is that Sirius is one of the closest stars to us: it is only 8.6 light years away.

In ancient Egypt, Sirius was called the Star of the Nile because its first morning sunrise foreshadowed the flooding of the Nile on the days of the summer solstice. In addition, Sirius and the constellation itself were already associated with a dog 5000 years ago; its oldest Sumerian name is the Dog of the Sun; the Greeks simply called him “dog”, and the Romans called him “doggy” (Canicula, hence the summer vacation period).

One of the remarkable discoveries of the 19th century is associated with Sirius: the prediction and detection of unusual compact stars - white dwarfs. For many years measuring with high precision the position of bright stars, the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel (1784-1846) noticed in 1836 that Sirius and Procyon (a Canis Minor) deviate from a straight line in their motion relative to more distant stars. Bessel suspected that these stars were showing oscillatory motion, and on this basis predicted that Sirius and Procyon had invisible satellites. Upon learning that he was hopelessly ill, Bessel published his forecast in 1844, indicating that the satellite of Sirius should orbit with a period of about 50 years. In those years, the idea of ​​the existence of invisible stars was so unusual that even the highest authority of Bessel did not save him from the harsh criticism of his colleagues. Let us recall that only in 1845-1846 J. Adams and W. Leverrier, on the basis of deviations in the motion of the planet Uranus, made a prediction about the existence of a planet invisible until that time in the solar system. Fortunately, this planet - Neptune - was immediately discovered exactly where scientists expected to find it. But Bessel's theoretical discovery did not receive confirmation for almost 20 years.

Sirius's companion was discovered first; it was noticed by the American optician Alvan Clark (1804–1887) in 1862 while testing a new telescope. The satellite received the name "Sirius B" and the nickname "Puppy". Its luminosity is 10 thousand times fainter than that of the main star - Sirius A, its radius is 100 times less than that of the Sun, but its mass is almost the same as that of the Sun. Therefore, Sirius B has a colossal density: about 1 ton per cubic centimeter! And in 1896 the satellite of Procyon was discovered. So white dwarfs were discovered - stars that completed their evolution and shrunk to the size of a small planet. The satellite is visible at a distance from 3І to 12І from Sirius A and revolves around it exactly with the period indicated by Bessel.

South of Sirius lies the beautiful open cluster M 41, some 2,300 light years distant. Another curious cluster is NGC 2362, with several dozen members surrounding the t CMa magnitude 4 star. This is one of the youngest star clusters: its age is about 1 million years.

Scales.

At the beginning this constellation represented the altar; then he was depicted as an altar or a lamp, clamped in the giant claws of a scorpion, therefore, in Almagest it is described as "the claws of the Scorpion." Only shortly before the beginning of the Christian era, the Romans gave it its present name, but the stars a and b of Libra are still called the South and North Claws. The eclipsing variable d Lib changes its brightness from 4.8 to 6.0 magnitude with a period of 2.3 days.

Aquarius.

Among the ancient Sumerians, this constellation was one of the most important, since it personified the god of the sky Ana, who gives the earth life-giving water. According to the Greeks, Aquarius depicts several mythical characters at once: Ganymede, a Trojan youth who became a cupbearer on Olympus; Deucalion, the hero of the Flood, and Kekrop, the ancient king of Athens.

The famous asterism in Aquarius is the Jug, a small Y-shaped group of four stars lying exactly on the celestial equator. The central of these stars, z Aqr, is a charming binary. Also of interest are the globular cluster M 2, the planetary nebulae Saturn (NGC 7009) and the Helix (NGC 7293). In Aquarius lies the radiant of the Delta Aquarida meteor shower, which is active at the end of July.

Auriga.

The stellar pentagon located north of Gemini. The brightest star (a Aur) is the yellow Capella, which the ancients called "the little goat" - the sixth brightest in the sky. For observers of the Northern Hemisphere living above 44 degrees of latitude, it is a non-setting circumpolar star, i.e. visible every clear night.

Against the background of the Milky Way near Capella, three stars stand out in a flat triangle - h, z and e Aurigae; they are also called "goats". The closest to the Capella is e Aur - the most mysterious of the three "goats". Every 27.08 years, its apparent brightness decreases in six months from 3.0 to 3.9 magnitude; it is in this state for about a year, and then within six months it restores its luster to its original level. It is not yet clear what is dwarfing this star. Mencalinan (b Aur) is also an eclipsing variable with a period of 3.96 days; however, only an experienced eye will be able to notice the weakening of its brightness at the time of the eclipse, since the brightness of the star weakens by only 10%. With good binoculars in this constellation, you can see three amazing open clusters - M 36, M 37 and M 38.

Wolf.

This mythical figure was called "the monster of death" by the Sumerians, and the "beast" by the Greeks. The constellation for the most part lies in the Milky Way, therefore it contains many bright stars. At the latitude of Moscow, this southern constellation never rises completely above the horizon, so it is practically inaccessible for observation. One of the first identified historical supernovae was the 1006 Supernova Wolf.

Bootes.

The inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere can observe this large and beautiful constellation all summer. Its brightest star Arcturus ("guardian of the bear") and several weaker stars form an elongated diamond shape, reminiscent of a giant kite.

Arcturus is easy to find, extending the tail of the Big Dipper to the south by about 30 degrees. It is the brightest star north of the celestial equator, 37 light-years distant from us and having a luminosity 110 times that of the Sun. Arcturus belongs to a rather rare type of stars - red giants, i.e. strongly aged stars, in their youth similar to our Sun. Arcturus's age is also indicated by his movement: he quickly moves relative to the Sun, therefore, belongs to the spherical halo of the Galaxy. While the Sun and many other stars move in almost circular orbits lying in the plane of the Galaxy, Arcturus revolves around the galactic center in a highly inclined orbit, crossing the galactic plane in our era.

Of particular interest is the star t Boo 4.5 magnitude. It is a very close star (52 light years) similar to the Sun. In the 1990s, a planet was discovered next to it - one of the first found outside the solar system. A very unusual planet: with a mass of almost 4 times that of Jupiter, it orbits a star 8.4 times closer than Mercury around the Sun. Its year (i.e. orbital revolution) lasts only 3.3 Earth days! We can say that this giant planet lives in the crown of its star. Astronomers call such planets "hot Jupiters". The origin of life on them is unlikely.

Veronica's hair.

Eratosthenes called this small and very dim constellation "hair of Ariadne", and Ptolemy generally attributed its stars to the constellation Leo. But the birth of this constellation has an exact date: it is named after Berenice, the wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes (3rd century BC), who, according to legend, cut off her beautiful hair and placed it in the temple of Venus in gratitude to the goddess for the military victory bestowed on her husband. And when the hair from the temple disappeared, the astronomer priest Konon told Berenice that Zeus took them to heaven. Only in 1602 this constellation was officially included in the catalog of Tycho Brahe.

On a moonless night, far from the city lights in this constellation, you can see with the naked eye the open cluster Coma of Veronica, about 42 stars of which, 250 light-years away from us, make up a delicate lace pattern. This cluster was known and placed in his catalog by Ptolemy.

A small telescope will allow you to see in this constellation the nearby globular star clusters M 53 and NGC 5053, as well as the Black Eye galaxy (M 64) with a huge dark dust cloud around the core. It is curious that within the boundaries of this modest constellation lies the North Galactic Pole, which means that looking in this direction, perpendicular to the translucent disk of our Galaxy, we have a chance to see the most distant corners of the Universe. It is very fortunate that a large cluster of galaxies Coma – Virgo begins at the southern border of the constellation, which is not very far from our Local Group of Galaxies (42 million light years) and therefore has a large angular diameter (about 16 degrees). This cluster contains more than 3000 galaxies, among which there are several spiral: strongly inclined to the line of sight M 98, observed almost flat M 99, large spirals M 88 and M 100. This cluster is usually called Virgo, because its central part lies in the neighboring constellation Virgo. and also because another, much more distant (400 million light years) and rich cluster of galaxies is observed in the Hair of Veronica, to which the name Coma is stuck.

Crow.

This small constellation lies south of Virgo. The Raven's four brightest stars form an easily visible figure. The ancient Sumerians called him "the great petrel", and the Babylonians identified with the bird-god Anzud. The star Algorab (d Crv) is a very beautiful double star, easily distinguishable through binoculars. Among distant objects, a pair of colliding galaxies NGC 4038 and 4039, known as "Antennas", is certainly interesting: two long curved "tails" formed under the action of the gravitational tidal effect diverge in opposite directions from their cores.

Hercules.

The not particularly bright stars of this large constellation form an expressive figure. The Greeks even 5 centuries BC. this constellation was referred to as "Hercules". The Arabic name of the beautiful double star Ras Algeti (a Her) translates as "kneeling head". Its main orange component randomly changes its brightness from magnitude 3 to 4, and its green-blue companion 5.4 magnitude is itself a close binary system with an orbital period of 51.6 days. This gorgeous orange-green pair can be "split" with a small telescope or powerful binoculars.

The decoration of the constellation is the globular cluster M 13, which is hardly distinguishable by the naked eye as a hazy speck between the stars h and z of Hercules. But through a telescope, this cluster looks amazing! Its total brightness is equivalent to a single magnitude 5.7 star. In this ancient cluster of more than a million stars, distant from us at a distance of 22 thousand light years. They are all much older than the Sun. It should also be noted and not so bright, but also very rich globular cluster M 92. From it the light goes to us 26 thousand years.

Hydra.

Largest of all constellations: This "sea serpent" lies south of the ecliptic, along which it stretches from Cancer in the west to Libra in the east. The compact group of six stars under Cancer is the Hydra's Head. To the southeast lies the brightest of the stars of the constellation, which the Arabs called Alphard, which means "lonely", since there are no bright stars near it. It is also often called the Heart of the Hydra - Cor Hydrae.

In the "serpent's tail" is the red giant R Hya - a long-period variable discovered by J. Moraldi in 1704. In those years, the period of its brightness change (from 3.5 to 9 magnitude) was about 500 days, but by now it has decreased up to 389 days. Astronomers classify such variable stars in the class "Mirids", named after the star of the World in the constellation Cetus.

The extremely red variable star V Hya is a rare type of carbon star; it is a red giant with carbon condensing in its atmosphere. Of interest are the open cluster M 48, the globular cluster M 68, the spiral galaxy M 83 and the planetary nebula NGC 3242, nicknamed the Ghost of Jupiter.

Pigeon.

This constellation, poor in interesting objects, lies to the southwest of Canis Major, in contact with the constellations of the Ship Argo (Poop, Carina, Sails), which is sometimes considered as Noah's Ark. If we recall the biblical myths, then such a neighborhood is not surprising.

Hounds Dogs.

The constellation is located next to the Big Dipper - right under the handle of the Bucket. At the end of the 17th century, the British tried to rename the Hounds Dogs to Heart of Charles in honor of the executed English king Charles I. Under this name (Cor Caroli Regis Martyris) it even appeared on some maps and star globes. But it did not take root: all that remained of this attempt was the name Heart of Carl (Cor Caroli) fixed to the star a Hounds of the Dogs. This beautiful double star is often seen through a telescope by astronomy enthusiasts.

And the star Y CVn, which the great Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi (1818-1878) called "La Superba" for its amazing spectrum, is one of the reddest stars available to the naked eye. It belongs to the "carbon" stars, in the spectrum of which there are almost no blue and ultraviolet rays due to their strong absorption by carbon molecules C 3.

The beautiful Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51) was the first nebula to reveal a spiral structure: it was noticed and sketched by the Irish astronomer William Parsons (Lord Ross) in 1845 using a giant telescope he created with a diameter of about 2 meters. Located 3.5 degrees southwest of the last star of the Dipper Arm, this galaxy has stretched one of its two spiral arms towards a small companion galaxy. The whirlpool is one of the galaxies closest to us: the distance to it is 25 million light years.

Virgo.

There are many interesting stars and galaxies in this large zodiacal constellation. The brightest star is Spica, which means "ear" in Latin. This is a very tight binary system; in it, with a period of 4 days, two hot blue stars revolve around a common center of mass; each of them is ten times more massive than the Sun, and the luminosity of each is a thousand times higher than that of the Sun. These stars are so close to each other that mutual gravity and rapid rotation deforms their bodies: they are ellipsoidal, so their orbital motion results in a slight fluctuation in Spica's brightness.

The star Porrim (g Vir), which means "the goddess of prophecy", is one of the closest double stars to us: the distance to it is 32 light years. Its two components, like two drops of water similar to each other, revolve in a very elongated orbit and with a period of 171 years. The magnitude of each of them is 3.5 magnitude, and 2.8 together. The maximum distance between them was about 6І in 1929, then they could be divided into an amateur telescope; but by 2007 it will decrease to 0.51 and the star will become visible as a single one.

At a distance of about 55 million light years lies the Virgo cluster of galaxies, containing more than 3000 members, including the elliptical galaxies M 49, 59, 60, 84, 86, 87 and 89; the crossed spiral M 58, the bright spiral M 90, the spiral M 85 turned to us by the edge and the large, flat-turned spiral M 61. The Sombrero galaxy (M 104) is visible almost from the edge, so named because of the powerful dark dust line passing along the equatorial plane. The brightest quasar 3C 273 is located in the constellation Virgo; its relatively high brightness (magnitude 12) makes it the most distant object available to an amateur telescope: the distance to it is about 3 billion light years!

Dolphin.

A small but cute constellation, like a diamond of four stars with a "tail" of two stars. Lies between the Eagle and the Cygnus, east of the Arrow - an equally small and cute constellation. According to Greek myth, this is the same dolphin that helped Poseidon find the nymph Amphitrite, for which he was placed in heaven. An interesting object is the double star g Del in the northeastern corner of the rhombus.

The Dragon.

The long shape of this constellation winds around the north pole of the world, encompassing Ursa Minor from three sides. The head of the "dragon" is easy to find just north of Hercules, under his left leg bent at the knee. But the dragon's long, writhing body is not easy to trace, for there are many faint stars in it. Greek myth indicates that this is the dragon Ladon, which Hera placed in the garden of the Hesperides to protect the tree with golden apples.

In the past, the stars of this constellation played a more important role than in our era. As a result of the precession of the earth's axis, the north and south poles of the world move among the stars. 3700 to 1500 BC the north pole of the world moved near the star Tuban (a Dra), and then it was she who indicated the direction to the north. Nowadays, as you know, this role is played by the North Star in M. Medveditsa.

The movement of the pole of the world occurs with a period of 25,770 years around the pole of the ecliptic, towards which the axis of the earth's orbit is directed. Curiously, this place in the sky is marked by a pretty object: the bright greenish-blue planetary nebula NGC 6543 is located almost exactly at the north pole of the ecliptic, between the x and c stars of the Dragon.

Every year on October 8-10, the Draconids meteor shower is observed, caused by particles of the periodic comet Giacobini-Zinner. Its meteors emanating from the radiant in the head of the "dragon" are notable for their low speed. Usually, several meteors can be seen within an hour.

Unicorn.

Located between M. Ps and B. Ps, the Unicorn lies almost entirely in the Milky Way, so there are many objects associated with the process of star formation: dark and light nebulae, young star clusters, although there are no especially bright stars in this constellation.

The young star cluster NGC 2244 is surrounded by a cloud of hot gas that astronomers call the emission nebula NGC 2237-9, or the Rosette in common parlance, because it looks like a clumpy ring that surrounds the star cluster. The apparent size of the Rosette is twice that of the lunar disk. This cloud is 11,000 times more massive than the Sun and about 55 light-years in diameter.

In Unicorn, the open clusters M 50 and Christmas Spruce (NGC 2264) are of interest, including the dark Cone nebula pointing towards it with its apex from the south; and also the "Variable Hubble Nebula" (NGC 2261), which changes its brightness by 2 magnitudes due to the variability of the radiation of its illuminating star. This nebula is said to have been the first object photographed by the Palomar 5-meter telescope. The Unicorn also contains the most massive double star in our Galaxy, discovered by J. Plaskett in 1922. It has a period of 14.4 days. and consists of two very hot O8 stars; hence she is commonly referred to as "Hot Star Plaskett." The total mass of this system is about 150 solar masses, and its main component is 80–90 times more massive than the Sun.

Altar.

Perhaps in ancient times it was one of the constellations of the Zodiac, but later some of its stars were attributed to Scorpio. The Sumerians called it "the constellation of the ancient sacrificial fire", and Ptolemy called it "the censer." According to Eratosthenes, this is the altar on which the gods made a common oath when Zeus was about to attack his father Kronos.

This constellation lies in the Milky Way, so there are many bright stars and interesting objects in it. For example, one of the closest globular star clusters NGC 6397 is observed in it, at a distance of 8200 light years. So far, about 150 of these ancient star clusters have been discovered in the Galaxy, and there are obviously no more than 200 of them. They are scattered throughout the volume of our star system, at distances of up to 400 thousand light years from its center. Therefore, their average distance from the Sun is very large, and it is rather difficult to study them. An ordinary telescope detects in them only the brightest stars - red giants; and only the largest telescopes are able to see numerous solar-type stars in these clusters; there are hundreds of thousands of them, and sometimes millions!

Unlike globular clusters, billions of years ago, parted from the remnants of gas from which their stars formed, open clusters are often located close to genetically related gas clouds. A fairly bright and young open cluster NGC 6193, with a total brightness of about 5.5 magnitude, illuminated and warmed up the emission nebula NGC 6188 around it, against the background of which a complex interlacing of filaments of dark nebulae is observed.

Painter.

Having singled out this group of stars into a separate constellation, Lacaille named it the Pictorial Station, i.e. easel. Nowadays, this name has become simplified and began to be perceived as an "artist", and not as a "drawing device". This small group of not very bright stars is visible only in the skies of the southern countries. It is very easy to find it there: literally at the border of the Painter there is "star number 2" of the entire firmament - Canopus from the constellation Carina.

Around the star b Pic, 55 light years distant, at the end of the 20th century. a rotating disk of dust and ice particles was discovered; perhaps this is a planetary system in the process of formation (at the beginning of the 21st century, the presence of rather large objects was noted in it). At an angular distance of 8.5 degrees north-west of the star b Pic is the Kaptein Star - a red dwarf known for being the second after Barnard's Flying Star in terms of its own velocity (8.654 / year).

Giraffe.

A large northern constellation composed of very faint stars. But one of them is quite popular among astronomy lovers. This is a dwarf nova Z Giraffe (Z Cam), which usually flares up every 2-3 weeks, increasing its brightness in less than 2 days from 13 to 10 magnitudes. But often, and at the same time completely unexpectedly, it stops its flares and freezes at the level of 12.5 magnitude, experiencing only weak fluctuations in brightness. This "shutdown" of outbreaks can last for months, or even years, and then suddenly stops. In order to understand the mechanism of the functioning of this strange star, it is required to accumulate a long series of observations. Amateurs are of great help to professional astronomers in this matter. Detailed information about this star can be found on the website of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (www.aavso.org).

For lovers of deep space in the constellation Giraffe, the large spiral galaxy NGC 2403, which has a magnitude of about 9 magnitude, is of interest.

Crane.

The southern constellation, inaccessible for observation in Russia. Its brightest star Alnair (a Gru) 1.7 magnitude is located 100 light years away.

Hare.

An ancient constellation located directly below Orion. Arat wrote: “At the Orion's feet, day after day, the Hare runs, fleeing the pursuit. But Sirius rushes relentlessly on his trail, not lagging behind. " About 29 light-years distant, g Lep is a binary star with very different components: a red companion next to a bright white star. Binoculars are enough to observe them.

One of the most interesting red stars in the entire sky is R Lep, which was discovered in 1845 by the astronomer John Russell Hind (1823–1895), who called it the Crimson Star and described it as "a drop of blood on a black background." This variable of the Mira Ceti type was first investigated by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (1825–1884): with a period of 432 days, its brightness changes from 5.5 to 11.7 magnitudes. This is an excellent object for amateur observation. Globular cluster M 79 is also visible in the Hare.

Ophiuchus.

Greek myths associate this constellation with the name of Asclepius, the god of healing, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. After killing his wife for treason, Apollo gave the baby Asclepius to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron, an expert in medicine. The grown-up Asclepius came to the daring idea of ​​resurrecting the dead, for which the angry Zeus struck him with lightning and placed him in heaven. Aratus included Ophiuchus and the "snake" he holds; now it is an independent constellation of the Serpent, unique in that it consists of two parts, separated by Ophiuchus.

Although the constellation lies partly in the Milky Way, there are few bright stars in it. Ophiuchus is not considered a zodiac constellation, but the Sun spends about 20 days in it in the first half of December.

It was in this constellation that the last supernova observed in our Galaxy, described by I. Kepler in 1604, flared up. A repeated new RS Oph flared up in 1898, 1933, 1958, 1967 and 1985; its outbreak is quite likely in the coming years. At the eastern border of the constellation is Barnard's Flying Star - a red dwarf, whose small distance (6 light years) makes it the second from the Sun after the a Cen system, and a rather high speed of movement, combined with a small distance, makes it the fastest star in the sky (10, 3І / year).

This constellation contains many globular clusters (M 9, 10, 12, 14, 19 and 62), as well as dark nebulae such as the S nebula (B 72) and the Pipe nebula (B 78 represents the calyx of the tube, and B 59, 65 , 66 and 67 form the shank and mouthpiece of this pipe).

Snake.

The only constellation, consisting of two divided parts: each of them is in the "hands" of Ophiuchus. The Serpens Caput lies to the northwest, and the Serpens Cauda's Tail lies to the east of Ophiuchus. At the very end of the Serpent's Tail, on the border with the constellation Eagle, there is a double star q Ser, easily accessible for observation with a small telescope. It is 142 light years distant and consists of two white components 4.6 and 5.0 magnitudes, separated by a distance of 22І. In the Serpent's Head, 7 degrees southwest of the star a Ser, you can find the globular cluster M 5, which has magnitude 7 and is 26 thousand light years distant; its age is about 13 billion years. The large open cluster M 16 is embedded in the diffuse Eagle nebula, so named for the shape of the dark dust cloud at its center.

Golden Fish.

For those traveling to southern latitudes, this constellation is very remarkable: in it, near the border with the Table Mountain constellation, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy is visible, stretching 11 degrees across the sky and distant from us by 190 thousand light years, i.e. ten times smaller than the spiral galaxy in Andromeda. It is a remarkable object rich in young stars, clusters and nebulae; not without reason J. Herschel called it "a blossoming oasis surrounded on all sides by a desert." The most interesting place in this galaxy is the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070), the largest among the known emission nebulae (diameter 1800 light years and a mass of 500 thousand solar). Astronomers of past centuries mistook it for a bright star and gave it a stellar designation - 30 Dor. It was only much later that they learned that it was a giant stellar archipelago in a nearby galaxy.

In the very heart of Tarantula is an extremely dense cluster of very young and massive stars, to which at the end of the 20th century. the attention of many astronomers was riveted: there was a suspicion that one supermassive star with a mass of about 2000 solar was located there. The theory of the structure of stars does not admit the existence of such massive stars. Indeed, the sharpest telescopes were able to show that this is not one star, but a very dense cluster of them. Astronomers recorded a supernova explosion near the Tarantula Nebula on February 23, 1987. This is the closest supernova ever seen since the invention of the telescope.

Indian.

The southern constellation is very poor in interesting objects. At 11.8 light years, e Ind is one of the closest stars to the Sun.

Cassiopeia.

A beautiful constellation, mainly lying in the Milky Way and always visible in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The brightest stars of Cassiopeia (from 2.2 to 3.4 magnitude) form a figure that is easily distinguishable even on a full moon and resembles the letter M at the beginning of winter and the letter W at the beginning of summer.

In this constellation is located one of the most powerful sources of galactic radio emission - Cassiopeia A. It is a rapidly expanding shell of gas thrown off during a supernova explosion, which was observed in 1572. As noted by Tycho Brahe and other astronomers of those years, the supernova shone brighter than Venus.

The attention of astronomy lovers should be attracted by the star Shedar (a Cas): from the 19th century. it is included in the catalogs of variable stars, but its variability has not yet been reliably confirmed. Other interesting objects include open clusters M 52, M 103, NGC 457 and NGC 7789; dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185 - satellites of the Andromeda Nebula; the diffuse nebula NGC 281 and the giant gas sphere, the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635).

Centaur.

Centaur, aka Centaurus, is one of the southernmost constellations known to ancient astrologers. Initially, it included those stars, of which later formed the constellation Southern Cross. But even without them, Centaur is a large constellation containing many bright stars and interesting objects. According to Greek myths, the centaur that got to heaven is the immortal and wise Chiron, the son of Kronos and the nymph Filira, an expert in science and art, educator of Greek heroes - Achilles, Asclepius, Jason. For this reason, it can be considered the Constellation of the Teacher.

Ancient astrologers called the brightest star of this constellation Rigil Centaurus - “centaur's leg”; her other name is Toliman, and today she is known as a Cen, the closest star to the Sun: 4.4 light years away. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and besides, it is a beautiful binary: its components are separated by an angular distance of about 20І and revolve with a period of 80 years. The brightest of them - a yellow dwarf, almost an exact copy of our Sun - has an apparent magnitude of zero, and its neighbor is an orange dwarf of the first magnitude. In 1915, at a short distance from this pair of stars, the English astronomer Robert Innes (1861-1933) discovered an asterisk of 11 magnitude. It turned out that it is located slightly closer to the Sun than the bright pair a Cen: the distance to it is 4.2 light years. For this she was given her own name - Proxima, which means "closest."

Although Proxima Centaur is a very dim red dwarf, which is 6–7 times smaller in mass and size, and tens of thousands of times smaller in terms of luminosity, but at the same time it is a very active flare star, the brightness of which can change by half in just A couple of minutes. For many years, astronomers believed that Proxima was the third member of the Alpha Centaur system. In the catalogs it was designated as "a Cen C" and it was even calculated that it revolves around the central binary star (a Cen A + a Cen B) in about 500 thousand years. Recently, however, doubts have arisen: perhaps Proxima is an independent star, accidentally and briefly approached the a Cen system.

In the constellation Centaur, the largest globular cluster in our Galaxy is visible - w Cen (NGC 5139), consisting of several million stars, including 165 pulsating variables with periods of about half a day. Although the cluster is 16,000 light-years away, it is the brightest in the sky. The Centaur is also home to the unusual elliptical galaxy NGC 5128, traversed by a clumpy dark streak of interstellar dust; astronomers believe that relatively recently it tore to shreds and is now swallowing its neighbor - a spiral or irregular galaxy. This "cannibal" is also known as the powerful radio source Centaur A.

Keel.

A large constellation lying near the south pole of the world, partly in the Milky Way. The constellation is adorned with the magnificent pale yellow giant Canopus, which ranks second in brightness after Sirius. At 330 light-years distant from us, Canopus actually shines 16 thousand times more powerful than the Sun and 760 times more powerful than Sirius. It can be seen in countries south of 37 degrees north latitude. Canopus is an important navigational star, whose presence in the sky is welcomed by the creators of spacecraft. The fact is that Canopus, having an extremely high brightness, lies only 15 degrees from the pole of the ecliptic. Therefore, along with the Sun, it is used in attitude control systems for spacecraft. It is important that the brilliance of Canopus, like the brilliance of the Sun, is extremely stable: this makes it easier to recognize the landmark.

Another famous star of this constellation, Eta Carinae (h Car), behaves quite differently. Edmond Halley observed it in 1677 as a 4-magnitude star. Later astronomers noted its irregular variability, and in 1840 its brightness increased significantly. By 1843, it reached its maximum, and then h Car became brighter than Canopus, reaching a record magnitude of –0.8 magnitude. Then it began to fade and, after a decade, was already inaccessible to the naked eye. In the minimum brightness, it had 8 magnitude, but in the last years of the XX century. its brightness began to increase slightly again.

Studies by astrophysicists have shown that the star h Car is not so much to blame for the variability of the brightness of the star itself as the very compact and dense dusty nebula that surrounds it with a diameter of only 0.4 light years. It consists of matter thrown off by the star itself, and rapidly changes its shape and transparency. If not for this nebula, then we would see a star of colossal brightness, since its luminosity is 5 million times higher than that of the Sun. However, almost all of this light is absorbed by the nebula dust and re-emitted in the infrared, making h Car the brightest in the infrared sky (excluding objects in the solar system).

The mass of the star h Car is 100 times greater than that of the Sun, but every year it loses 0.07 solar masses in the form of a stellar wind - more than any other known star. This gas flies away from it at a speed of 700 km / s. Far from the star, it cools, and the resulting tiny solid particles form an almost opaque "cocoon" around the star. It is clear that this cannot go on for long; usually such instability marks the end of a star's life. Today's lull is temporary: it is likely that in the coming centuries, and maybe decades, it will explode like a supernova!

The star h Car is located almost in the center of the giant gas nebula of the same name (NGC 3372) with an angular size of 3 degrees. Since the distance to it is about 8000 light years, this angle corresponds to the diameter of the nebula 400 light years, which is 10-15 times greater than that of the Orion Nebula. At the very center of the bright h Car nebula, just next to the star h Car, lies the pretty dark Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), which really looks like a keyhole. Also noteworthy in Keele are the open clusters NGC 2516 and NGC 3532 and the globular cluster NGC 2808.

Whale.

In Greek myths, this is a monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the country of King Cepheus and destroy his daughter Andromeda. The whale is surrounded mainly by "aquatic" constellations: it lies south of Pisces, stretching from Aquarius in the west to Eridanus in the east. The star o Cet has long been called Mira, i.e. "Amazing". At the beginning of the 17th century. it was discovered as the first long-term variable; it is a red giant, changing its brightness from 3 to 11 magnitudes on average with a period of 332 days.

Of interest is a compact spiral galaxy with a bright central part M 77 (NGC 1068) of 9th magnitude; it belongs to the type of Seyfert galaxies; active processes of energy release take place in its core. Attention should also be paid to the large, but rather pale spiral galaxy NGC 247 with a faint core and an unusual dark oval region on the disk, surrounded as a loop by a spiral arm.

Capricorn.

A relatively small and inexpressive constellation, which can be found in the Zodiac between Aquarius and Sagittarius in the late evening in August and only on a moonless night. If in Capricorn you see a really bright star, then you should know that this is not a star, but a planet. The ancients called this constellation "fish-goat", and in this strange form it is represented on many maps. However, sometimes it is identified with the god of forests, fields and shepherds Pan. Its stars form a silhouette resembling an inverted hat, although, if desired, the figure of a horned animal can also be seen in them, as G. Ray (1969) did. The most notable object in Capricorn is the globular cluster M 30 with a very dense core. In this constellation, on September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered; this was done by the astronomers of the Berlin Observatory Johann Halle (1812-1910) and Heinrich d "Arre (1822-1875), who had received an accurate theoretical prediction the day before by the French mathematician and astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811-1877).

Compass.

This constellation was not isolated from the ancient Argo Ship, but was born along with those 14 new constellations that Lacaille invented in 1752. But it is so precisely located among the other parts of the Argo Ship that they began to be considered a single historical whole. The most curious object in this constellation is undoubtedly the re-new T Pyx, which flashed brightly in 1890, 1902, 1920, 1944 and 1966, i.e. approximately every 20 years, but after 1966 bright flares did not occur (although chaotic fluctuations in brightness are observed). Variable star researchers pay special attention to this object: they expect an outbreak from day to day. Although the declination of this star is -32 degrees, it can be observed with some difficulty from the southern regions of Russia.

Stern.

A large constellation in the Milky Way, rich in interesting stars and beautiful clusters; part of the ancient constellation Ship Argo. The brightest star in the constellation Poppa - z Pup named Naos - is a blue supergiant of a rare spectral class O5, one of the hottest and most powerful stars: its luminosity is 300 thousand times higher than that of the Sun. The eclipsing binary V Pup changes its magnitude from 4.7 to 5.3 with a period of 1.45 days; its entire cycle can be observed with the naked eye. One of the brightest novae of the last century was CP Pup: on November 11, 1942, its magnitude reached 0.3 magnitude. The open clusters M 46, M 47, M 93 and NGC 2477 are interesting to observe.

Swan.

The extremely expressive figure of this constellation really looks like a silhouette of a swan with outstretched wings and a long, elongated neck; this "bird" flies south along the Milky Way. Since the period of visibility of the constellation falls on a favorable season for observations - summer and early autumn - this constellation is familiar to many. At the tip of the Cygnus 'cross' is the bright star Deneb (a Cyg). Together with Vega (in Lear) and Altair (in Orel), she forms the famous asterism - the Summer Triangle. In Arabic, "Deneb" just means "tail"; this blue-white star is one of the brightest supergiants with a luminosity of 270 thousand times higher than the Sun. At the bird's head is the b Cyg star named Albireo - a magnificent visual binary, easy to observe with a small telescope; one of its components is golden yellow, like topaz, and its companion is blue, like sapphire. Another interesting star is 61 Cygnus, very similar to the Sun and the 14th among the stars closest to us. She was the first to which astronomers were able to measure the distance (11.4 light years). This was done by F. Bessel in 1838.

Near Deneb, against the background of the pale glow of the Milky Way, a dark region stands out - the Northern Coal Sack, one of the nearby interstellar clouds of gas and dust. Also of interest is a clumpy complex of emission nebulae called the Net, or Veil (NGC 6960 and NGC 6992), a very elegant lace remnant of a supernova explosion that happened about 40 thousand years ago. The outlines of the bright North America Nebula (NGC 7000) do indeed resemble the famous continent. One of the most powerful radio sources "Cygnus A" is associated with a distant (about 600 million light years) galaxy, crossed in the center by a dark stripe; it is possible that this is a conglomerate of two colliding galaxies. And the bright X-ray source Cygnus X-1 has been identified with the star HDE 226868 and its invisible companion, which is considered one of the undisputed black hole candidates.

A lion.

Ancient zodiac constellation. Myths connect Leo with the Nemean monster that Hercules killed. The arrangement of the bright stars really resembles a recumbent lion, whose head and chest represent the famous Sickle asterism, which looks like a mirror image of a question mark. The "dot" at the bottom of this sign is the bright blue-white star Regulus (a Leo), which means "king" in Latin. Among the ancient Persians, Regulus was known as one of the four "royal stars"; the other three are Aldebaran (a Taurus), Antares (a Scorpio), and Fomalhaut (a Southern Pisces). Sometimes Regulus is also called the Heart of the Lion (Cor Leonis). Its luminosity is only 160 times higher than that of the Sun, and its high apparent brightness (1.4 magnitude) is explained by its relative proximity to us (78 light years). Among the stars of the first magnitude, Regulus is closer than others to the ecliptic, therefore it is often covered by the Moon.

At the base of the "lion's head" is the golden yellow Algieba (g Leo), which means "lion's mane"; it is a close visual binary of magnitude 2.0. In the back of the figure is the star Denebola (b Leo), translated from Arabic - "lion's tail". It has a magnitude of 2.1 magnitude and is 36 light years distant. The star R Leo is one of the brightest long-period variables, varying from magnitude 5 to 10; it was discovered by J. Koch in 1782. The very faint red dwarf Wolf 359 (apparent magnitude 13.5) is the third among the nearest stars (distance 7.8 light years); its luminosity is 50 thousand times less than that of the Sun, and, moreover, it has a dark red color. If this star took the place of our Sun, then at noon on Earth it would be only slightly lighter than it is now at the full moon.

Among the distant objects in this constellation are interesting spiral galaxies M 65, 66, 95 and 96, as well as the elliptical galaxy M 105. Their apparent brightness is from 8.4 to 10.4 magnitude. In this constellation lies the radiant of the Leonids meteor shower, formed from the decay of the periodic comet Temple-Tutl and observed in mid-November; its meteors are very fast and bright.

Flying fish.

The southern constellation, lies between Carina and Mesa, occupying the region not rich in stars between the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is a small group of 4th magnitude stars, one of the constellations that Frederic de Houtman and Peter Keyser identified in the southern sky in 1596. The flying fish seem to have hit European sailors badly. However, the artists of those years had a rather vague idea of ​​this creature: in the star atlas Uranometry(1603) in place of this constellation is depicted a plump carp with feathered owl wings. A companion of 5.7 magnitude can be distinguished with binoculars near g Vol. Crossed spiral galaxy NGC 2442 is seen nearly face on at 11 magnitude.

Lyra.

Small but amazing constellation lying between Hercules and Cygnus. In ancient Babylon, this constellation was called "the bearded lamb" (large hawk) or "attacking antelope." The Arabs called him "the falling eagle." Ancient tradition connects this constellation with the myths of Orpheus, for which Hermes made a lyre from a tortoise shell. Several myths are sometimes combined in the drawing of the constellation; so in Uranometry Bayer's lyre is depicted on the chest of an eagle.

The main star Vega (a Lyr) is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere and the fifth brightest in the entire sky. It is 25 light-years distant from us, has a luminosity 50 times higher than that of the Sun, and in 12 thousand years will become a polar star. Vega means falling eagle in Arabic. Together with two less bright stars, it forms a small equilateral triangle, which itself lies in the northwest corner of the small parallelogram depicting a lyre. Together with the bright stars Deneb (in Cygnus) and Altair (in Oryol), Vega forms the famous asterism - the Summer Triangle.

Sheliak (b Lyr), which in Arabic means "turtle", is a mysterious eclipsing binary, changing its brightness from 3.4 to 4.5 magnitudes with a period of about 13 days. This star system is surrounded by a ring of gas or an envelope of matter constantly lost by the stars themselves. Next to Vega is e Lyr - "double double", i.e. a visual binary system, each of whose components is also a close binary. Recently, a fifth companion has also been identified, orbiting this system of two binary stars.

Between the stars b and g of Lyrae, which form the southern side of the parallelogram, there is a circular planetary nebula of magnitude 9 Ring (M 57). It is an expanding shell of gas, thrown off and heated by the central star, whose temperature is about 100,000 K.

Chanterelle.

This constellation was introduced by Hevelius under the name Vulpecula cum Ansere, "little chanterelle with a goose" (in the teeth!); is located south of the Swan. It has no bright stars, although it lies in the Milky Way. The most interesting object is the planetary nebula M 27, nicknamed Dumbbell for its characteristic shape. It is easy to find even with binoculars: it is slightly brighter than magnitude 8 and lies 3 degrees north of g Sge (the bright star in the "arrowhead"). In 1967, the first radio pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star, was discovered within the constellation Chanterelle, the radiation of which was initially mistaken for a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization.

Ursa Minor.

Sometimes this constellation is called the Small Dipper. The last star in the "tail" of M. Medveditsa is the well-known Polar, located in our era a little less than 1 degree from the North Pole of the world. In 2102, Polaris will approach the pole at a minimum distance of 27ў 31І and then move away from it. The brightness of Polaris is 2.0 stellar magnitude, and the distance from us is 470 light years. In ancient times, the Arabs called the Polar "goat", and the star b UMi was called Kohab, which means "northern star": indeed, from 1500 BC. NS. by 300 n. NS. it was closest to the pole; its magnitude is 2.1.

For many years, the North Star was known to astronomers as a classical Cepheid, changing its brightness by 0.3 stellar magnitudes with a period of about 4 days. However, in the 1990s, the fluctuations in its brightness suddenly stopped.

Small Horse.

This "colt" was invented by Hipparchus, and Ptolemy included it in his "Almagest". The constellation consists of a small group of nondescript stars at the southwestern corner of Pegasus, next to Dolphin. Its four brightest stars of magnitude 4–5 form an irregular shape the size of a Dolphin.

Small Lion.

A very expressionless constellation, placed by Jan Hevelius directly above Leo. It contains the radiant of a faint meteor shower in the region of October 24th.

Small Dog.

Small constellation east of Orion. Its brightest star 0.4 magnitude, Procyon, as well as Sirius (in Canis Major) and Betelgeuse (in Orion) form an almost equilateral triangle. On ancient maps, Big and Small Dogs accompany the hunter Orion. “Procyon” in Greek means “that which is before the dog,” indicating that it rises from the horizon directly in front of Sirius. Procyon is one of the stars closest to us (11.4 light years). Physically, it differs little from the Sun. Like Sirius, Procyon is a visual binary star. In 1844, according to the oscillations of Procyon's own motion, the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel (1784-1846) suspected the presence of a satellite, and on November 14, 1896 J. Scheberle, observing Procyon in the 36-inch refractor of the Lick Observatory, discovered an asterisk of 13 magnitude next to it. As in the case of Sirius, the satellite of Procyon turned out to be a white dwarf orbiting with a period of 40.65 years and having 15 thousand times less brightness than the main component of the system. The main difficulty in finding him, like the satellite of Sirius, was the blinding effect of a brighter companion. The discovery of white dwarfs has led to significant progress in the study of stellar evolution.

Microscope.

A small and inconspicuous constellation containing no stars brighter than magnitude 5 and lying south of Capricorn.

Fly.

A small but beautiful constellation lying in the bright spur of the Milky Way, south of the Southern Cross. In the past, this area was called Apis (Bee). In the binary star b Mus, two components of 4th magnitude, separated by a distance of 1.31, revolve around a common center of mass with a period of 383 years.

In January 1991, the orbiting observatories GRANAT and GINGA discovered an X-ray nova flash in this constellation (designated XN Mus 1991). At the same place, ground-based astronomers noticed a flash of an optical nova. Studies have shown that this is a very close binary system with an orbital period of less than half a day, and one of its components - an invisible object weighing 9-16 times the mass of the Sun - almost certainly a black hole. In addition, characteristic gamma radiation comes from the system, indicating the annihilation of electrons and positrons there, therefore, this is how antimatter arises and dies!

Pump.

Called Antlia Pneumatica (Air Pump), Lacaille singled out this small and faint constellation east of Compass and north of Sails. The brightest stars of Pump are red giants of magnitude 4-5.

The corner.

This "carpenter's tool" lies southwest of Scorpio. Although both branches of the Milky Way pass through it, this region of the sky is mainly occupied by a dark clearing between them and therefore is poor in bright stars.

Aries.

Autumn-winter constellation lying west of Taurus. Aries is one of the most famous constellations of the zodiac, although there are no stars brighter than the second magnitude in it. The reason is that in ancient times it was in Aries that the vernal equinox lay, which is still marked with the sign of Aries (^). But in our era, the Sun enters the constellation Aries not on March 21, as before, but on April 18-19.

The Sumerians called Aries "the constellation of the ram." This is the same golden fleece ram that saved Frix and Gella from their stepmother Ino. They were going to get to Colchis, but Gella drowned in the waters of the strait that received her name - the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles). But Frix made it to Colchis, sacrificed a ram, and gave the golden fleece to the king Eetus, who took him in, who hung the skin on a tree in a grove guarded by a dragon. Then the Argonauts appear in this story ...

The three main stars - Gamal ("ram's head"), Sheratan ("trace" or "sign") and Mesarthim (respectively a, b and g of Aries) are easy to find: they lie to the south of the Triangle. The fourth-magnitude star Mesarthim was one of the first binaries discovered with a telescope; it was done by Robert Hooke in 1664. Her two identical white companions are separated by an angle of 8І; they can be easily spotted with a small telescope or good binoculars.

Octant.

The goniometer octant is the smaller brother of the sextant, having a digitized scale in 1/8 of a circle. And the constellation Octant is twinned with the Ursa Minor, since it is in it, in Octant, that the south pole of the world lies (and not in the Southern Cross, as some think). On old celestial charts, it can be found under the name Reflective Octant, for, like the sea sextant, it was equipped with a mirror. The constellation is expressionless; it contains no stars brighter than 4th magnitude. The South Pole of the world is located approximately between its two brightest stars - b and d. And the star closest to the pole, at a distance of about 1 degree from it and barely visible to the eye, is s Oct, which has a magnitude of 5.5 magnitude.

The brightest star in Octant n Oct is a binary with an orbital period of only 2.8 years; but in an amateur telescope it cannot be divided, because the distance between the components is only 0.05 /. It is curious that star a in this constellation is far from the brightest, stars m and p are represented in two, and g - even in triplicate. In general, the constellation Octantus leaves an impression of neglect.

Eagle.

A beautiful constellation in the Milky Way, southwest of Cygnus. It is easy to recognize by three bright stars located almost exactly along a straight line on the neck, back and left shoulder of the "eagle": Altair, Tarazed and Alshain (a, g and b of the Eagle). The main "body of the bird" lies in the eastern branch of the Milky Way, and the two stars of its "tail" lie in the western branch of the "milk river". Even 5 millennia ago, the Sumerians called this constellation the Eagle. The Greeks saw in him an eagle sent by Zeus to abduct Ganymede, and called him the Bird of Zeus.

The brightest luminary in Eagle is the white star Altair, which in Arabic means "flying hawk". With a distance of only 17 light-years from the Sun, Altair has 11 times the luminosity of the Sun, and therefore is one of the brightest stars in the sky. As a result of rapid rotation, the speed of which at the equator exceeds 250 km / s, Altair is strongly compressed along the polar axis.

At 7 degrees south of Altair, there is a classical variable Cepheid star h Aql, changing its brightness from 3.8 to 4.7 magnitude with a period of 7.2 days. Bright new stars flashed in Orel in 389 and 1918. The first of them appeared near Altair, was bright as Venus and was observed for three weeks. And the second, seen on June 8, 1918, reached a magnitude of –1.4 magnitude at its maximum and turned out to be the brightest nova since the beginning of the 17th century. (when New Kepler broke out in 1604).

Orion.

Many consider this constellation to be the most beautiful in the entire sky. But Orion is not only a decoration of the winter sky, but also a real astronomical laboratory in which astronomers study the processes of birth of stars and planets.

In the arrangement of the stars, the figure of the great hunter Orion, the son of Poseidon, is easily guessed. There are many bright stars in this relatively small constellation, and among the brightest there are variables. The constellation is easy to spot by the three gorgeous blue and white stars in the hunter's belt - on the right is Mintaka (d Ori), which in Arabic means “belt,” in the center is Alnilam (e Ori) for “pearl belt”, and on the left is Alnitak (z Ori) - "sash". They are equidistant from each other and are located in a line pointing with one end to the blue Sirius in Canis Major, and the other to the red Aldebaran in Taurus.

The red supergiant Betelgeuse (a Ori), which in Arabic means "the armpit of a giant," is a semi-regular variable star pulsating with a period of about 2070 days; while its brightness varies from 0.2 to 1.4 magnitude and averages about 0.7. It is 390 light years away and has a luminosity of 8400 times that of the Sun. It is not in vain that Betelgeuse is called a supergiant: its relatively modest luminosity is due to the low surface temperature, only about 3000 K. But it is one of the largest stars among astronomers known to astronomers: if you place it instead of the Sun, then at the minimum size it will fill the orbit of Mars, and at the maximum it will reach the orbit Jupiter!

In contrast to the cool and red star Betelgeuse, the amazing blue-white supergiant Rigel, which in Arabic means “the left leg of the giant,” has a surface temperature of 12,000 K; its luminosity is almost 50 thousand times higher than that of the sun. There are very few such powerful stars in the Galaxy, and among those accessible to the naked eye - only Deneb (in Cygnus) and Rigel.

Below Orion's Belt is a group of stars and nebulae - the Sword of Orion. The middle star in the Sword is q Ori, a well-known multiple system: its four bright components form a small quadrangle - Orion's Trapezium; besides, there are four more fainter stars there. These stars are all very young, recently formed from interstellar gas in a very cold and invisible cloud that occupies the entire eastern part of the constellation Orion. Only a small piece of this giant cloud, heated by young stars, is visible in the Sword of Orion through a small telescope and even through binoculars as a greenish cloud; it is the most interesting object in the constellation - the Great Orion Nebula (M 42), which is about 1,500 light years distant from us and has a diameter of 20 light years. She was the first nebula to be photographed; it was done by the American astronomer Henry Draper in 1880.

0.5 degrees south of the eastern belt star (z Ori) lies the well-known dark Horsehead Nebula (B 33), which is clearly visible against the bright background of IC 434.

Peacock.

The far southern constellation lies between Toucan and Bird of Paradise. Its brightest star (a Pav) 1.9 magnitude is called Peacock. In fact, it lies on the border of three constellations - Indian, Peacock and Telescope - and is the brightest for all three. Interesting objects to observe in Peacock are one of the most beautiful globular clusters NGC 6752 and one of the largest crossed spiral galaxies NGC 6744.

Sail.

Part of the ancient constellation Ship Argo. The southern part of the constellation Parus falls into the most populated regions of the Milky Way, so it is rich in bright stars. With the naked eye, you can count at least 100 stars in it. For historical reasons, there are no stars a and b; its brightest luminaries are designated as g (Regor), d, l (Al Suhail), k and m. On the border of Sails and Carina there is the False Cross asterism, which often misleads those who first enter the southern hemisphere. Unlike the real Southern Cross, the false one is not directed at all to the south pole of the world.

The binary star g Vel is easily resolved through binoculars: its magnitudes 2 and 4 are separated by a distance of 41І. In this case, the main component itself is a complex system - it is a close binary with an orbital period of 78.5 days, in which a very hot star of spectral type O and a rare star of the Wolf-Rayet type are adjacent, having masses of 38 and 20 solar masses, respectively. The less massive of them loses matter from its surface at high speed and in large quantities. For the first time, stars of this type were described in 1867 by the French astronomers Charles Wolf (1827-1918) and Georges Rayet (1839-1906). In the spectrum of this system, broad multi-colored lines are visible against a rather bright continuous background. Astronomers call this star "the spectral pearl of the southern sky."

Planetary nebula NGC 3132, located on the border with Pump, is similar to the Ring nebula in Lyra, but firstly, the nebula itself is noticeably brighter than the Ring, and secondly, its central star is much brighter, which can be easily seen through a small telescope. However, the glow of the nebula itself is not excited by this star, but by its small companion with a surface temperature of about 100 thousand K.

This constellation also contains one of the most unusual objects of optical astronomy - the Vela neutron pulsar star, blinking at a frequency of 11 pulses per second. It was the second optical pulsar discovered in 1977, 10 years after the first optical pulsar in Crab (constellation Taurus). Both of them are also radio pulsars, of which more than a thousand have already been discovered. Only the youngest pulsars exhibit optical flares. Vela and Crab are very young, they were formed as a result of supernova explosions: the outburst that gave rise to the Crab Nebula was observed in 1054, and about 12 thousand years ago a star exploded in Sails, leaving behind a rapidly rotating neutron star and scattering in all directions from it gas shell, the diameter of which has already reached 6 degrees. This very beautiful openwork structure lies on the galactic equator, between the stars g and l Sails.

Pegasus.

Autumn constellation located southeast of Cygnus. Together with the star a Andromeda, it forms the Great Square of Pegasus, which is easy to find in the sky. The Babylonians and ancient Greeks simply called him "horse"; the name "Pegasus" first appears in Eratosthenes, but there were no wings yet. They arose later, in connection with the legend of Bellerophon, who received a winged horse from the gods, who flew on it and killed the winged monster chimera. In some myths, Pegasus is also associated with Perseus.

Pegasus does not have a star marked with the letter d. But on some old maps there is such a star: it is the upper left one in the Square, the star Alferatz, which we now know as a And. Alferatz belongs to those bright "common" stars that often lie on the boundaries of the constellations. The decision to "transfer" it to Andromeda was made at the final division of the constellations in 1928. Along with the disappearance of the star d Peg, the Great Square became the "joint property" of the two constellations.

In Pegasus, near the border with Little Horse, there is one of the richest globular clusters, M 15, as well as the spiral galaxy NGC 7331, the image of which is often used to give an idea of ​​the appearance of our Galaxy. Analyzing the spectrum of the 51 Peg star, Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Quelotz in 1995 noticed the presence of an invisible satellite next to it - the first planet discovered in a solar-type star.

Perseus.

A beautiful constellation located entirely in the Milky Way northeast of Andromeda. According to the myth, Perseus was the son of Zeus and the princess Danae; he defeated the gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster. Every year in mid-August, the Perseid meteor shower is observed, caused by particles lost by the periodic comet Swift-Tuttle.

The brightest star a Per bears the Arabic name Mirfak, which means "elbow". This yellow supergiant, 600 light-years away, is the center of a rich group of bright stars known as the Perseus Cluster a. The most famous eclipsing variable star is Algol (b Per), which in Arabic means "demon head". Its variability was first noticed between 1667 and 1670 by Geminiano Montanari (1633–1687) from Modena (Italy). And in 1782, the English astronomer John Goodrike (1764-1786) discovered the periodicity in the change in its brightness: with a period of 2 days 20 hours 49 minutes, the star's brightness first decreases from 2.1 to 3.4 magnitude, and after 10 hours it returns to its original value ... This behavior of Algol prompted Goodrike to think that the decrease in the star's brightness occurs as a result of eclipses: in a binary star system, the periodically darker component partially obscures the brighter one. In 1889, the German astronomer Hermann Vogel (1841-1907) confirmed Goodrike's hypothesis by discovering the spectral duality of Algol. A talented and well-educated youth, deaf and dumb since childhood, Goodrike also discovered the variability of two other bright stars - b Lyrae (1784) and d Cepheus (1784), which, like Algol, became the prototypes of important classes of variable stars.

Also in Perseus attract attention: the planetary nebula Little Dumbbell (M 76); the California nebula (NGC 1499) and the open cluster M 34. Of undoubted interest for observation is the double open cluster h and c Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884), located 6500 light years away, but having 4 apparent magnitudes and noticeable even to the naked eye ...

Bake.

Lies to the south of Cetus and Eridanus, has no bright stars. It features the Fornax dwarf galaxy, a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, 450,000 light-years distant from the Sun. In the same constellation, but much further from us, there is a fairly rich cluster of galaxies, also called Fornax.

Bird of paradise.

Despite the beautiful name, this constellation is unattractive. Its dim stars are located near the pole of the world. Of these, the most interesting is the S Bird of Paradise (S Aps). It belongs to a very interesting group of R-type stars in the Northern Crown. The brightness of such a star can remain almost unchanged for several years, and then in a short time weakens by tens, or even hundreds of times. After several weeks, or even a year, the star returns to normal. Temporary dimming reduces the brightness of the star S Aps from 10 to 15 magnitude (i.e., 100 times); moreover, these changes show some regularity with a period of about 113 days. Astronomers suspect that the reason for the weakening of the brightness of such stars is the condensation in their atmosphere of a substance similar to soot. This is facilitated by an excess of carbon and a low temperature of the atmosphere. From time to time, black clouds cover the skies of these stars, hiding their bright photosphere from us.

Cancer.

The most inconspicuous constellation of the Zodiac: its stars can only be seen on a clear moonless night. However, there are many interesting objects in it.

The Arabic name of the star a Cnc is Akubens, which means "claw"; it is a visual binary star of 4.3 magnitude; you will find its 12th magnitude companion at a distance of 11І from the main star. It is curious that the main one itself is also double: its two identical companions are separated by a distance of only 0.11. This is not available for an amateur telescope.

The star z Cnc is one of the most interesting multiple systems: its two stars form a binary system with an orbital period of 59.6 years, and the third component revolves around this pair with a period of approx. 1150 years old.

Cancer contains two known open clusters. One of them is the Manger (Praesepe, M 44), which is sometimes also called the Beehive. It is discernible by the eye as a hazy speck just to the west of the line connecting the stars g and d of Cancer. Galileo was the first to resolve this cluster into stars; In a modern telescope, about 350 stars are observed in it in the brightness range from 6.3 to 14 magnitudes, and about 200 of them are members of the cluster, and the rest are closer or distant stars, accidentally observed in the projection onto the cluster. The nursery is one of the closest star clusters to us: distance to it is 520 light years; therefore, its size visible in the sky is very large - three times the size of the lunar disk.

Cluster M 67, located 1.8 degrees west of the star a Cnc, is 2,600 light-years distant from us and contains about 500 stars ranging from magnitude 10 to 16. It is one of the oldest open clusters, more than 3 billion years old. For comparison: Nursery is a middle-aged cluster, it is only 660 million years old. Most open clusters move in the plane of the Milky Way, but M 67 is significantly removed from it, and this is not accidental: far from the dense galactic disk, the cluster collapses less and lives longer.

It should be noted that the geographical concepts "Tropic of Cancer" and "Tropic of Capricorn" arose several millennia ago, when the point of the summer solstice was located in the constellation of Cancer, and the point of the winter solstice, respectively, in Capricorn. The precession of the Earth's axis has disturbed this picture. Now geographers call these lines on the globe, 23.5 degrees distant from the equator, the Northern Tropic and the Southern Tropic.

Cutter.

This "engraving tool" is a small, almost empty area southwest of the Hare. This is one of the most expressionless constellations.

Fishes.

The large zodiac constellation, which is conventionally divided into Pisces Pisces (under Andromeda) and Pisces Western (between Pegasus and Aquarius). In our era, it is in the constellation of Pisces that the vernal equinox point lies, which, according to tradition, is sometimes called the First point of Aries. However, it lay in Aries 2000 years ago, and in 600 years it will enter the constellation Aquarius.

The Crown asterism represents a ring of seven stars in the head of the Western Pisces. Alrisha (a Psc), which in Arabic means rope, is located in the southeastern corner of the constellation and presents an interesting visual double; its components with magnitudes 4.2 and 5.2 are separated by a distance of 2.51. 2 degrees south of d Psc is the Van Maanen Star, probably the closest white dwarf to us, 14 light years away. Spiral galaxy M 74 is also curious, the largest of the observed face-on (magnitude 9.4 magnitude, angular diameter 10ў).

Lynx.

A fairly large northern constellation of very faint stars; it takes truly lynx eyes to see them! There are many doubles and multiples among them. Particularly interesting is the physical binary 10 UMa, whose components of magnitude 4 and 6 are separated by a distance of about 0.5 I and revolve with a period of about 22 years. This star passed into Lynx from the Big Dipper when clarifying the boundaries of the constellations, but retained its traditional designation. And we will find the star 41 Lynx (41 Lyn) on the territory of the Big Dipper. These examples clearly indicate the relative movement of the stars and the conventionality of the boundaries of the constellations.

Astronomy lovers will be attracted by the Intergalactic Wanderer (NGC 2419) - one of the most distant globular clusters in the Galaxy (275 thousand light years from the Sun). Why is it called "intergalactic"? Because some galaxies, for example, the Magellanic Clouds, are located much closer to us. This cluster is not easy to observe: at 4ў in diameter, it has a brilliance of approx. 10 magnitude.

Northern Crown.

The constellation is located between Bootes and Hercules; many consider it to be the most beautiful of the small constellations. Gemma, or Alfecca, is the brightest star in the Northern Crown (a CrB); it is an eclipsing binary of the Algol type, slightly changing its brightness near 2.2 magnitudes with a period of 17.36 days. But Gemma is more complicated than Algol: a second system of lines is visible in its spectrum, which demonstrates oscillations with a period of 2.8 days. Perhaps this is the third component.

The irregular variable star R CrB almost always has a magnitude of approx. 6 magnitude, but sometimes unexpectedly dims, dropping to 9 or even 14 magnitude, and remains in this state from several months to ten years.

At the southern border of the constellation, near e CrB, on May 12, 1866, a new star flashed, designated T CrB. Its brightness reached magnitude 2, and within a week it was visible to the naked eye, but after two months its brightness dropped to magnitude 9. And on February 9, 1946, it flared up again, reaching 3 magnitudes. Such stars are called "repeated new". It is also visible in the intervals between flares (11th magnitude).

Sextant.

This inconspicuous constellation lies south of Leo and contains no stars brighter than magnitude 4.5. The most interesting object is the bright (10 magnitude) highly elongated elliptical galaxy Spreteno (NGC 3115). In the same constellation, the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Sextans is visible, only 280 thousand light years distant.

Net.

By introducing this small southern constellation, Lacaille was referring to a scale printed on a transparent material or made in the form of a spider web used in optical measuring instruments - a "rhomboidal grid". Its brightest stars do form a diamond.

For observation through binoculars, the z Ret system, which lies on the border with the Clock constellation, is of interest. These are two 5th magnitude stars separated by an angle of 5ў; both of them are like two drops of water similar to our Sun (spectral type G2 V).

Scorpion.

It is a zodiacal constellation, but its border with neighboring Ophiuchus was laid so that the Sun at the end of November passes through Scorpio in less than a week, and then for almost three weeks moves through the nonodiacal constellation Ophiuchus. Scorpio lies entirely in the Milky Way. Many bright stars outline the "head, body and tail of a scorpion." According to Aratus, Orion had an argument with Artemis; angry, she sent a scorpion, which killed the young man. Arat adds an astronomical part to this myth: "When Scorpio rises in the east, Orion hastens to hide in the west."

The brightest star Antares (a Sco), which in Greek means "rival of Ares (Mars)", is located in the "heart of the scorpion." It is a red supergiant with insignificant brightness variability (from 0.9 to 1.2 magnitude); in terms of brightness and color, this star is really very similar to Mars, and it lies near the ecliptic, so it is not surprising to confuse them. The diameter of Antares is about 700 times that of the Sun, and the luminosity is 9000 times greater than that of the Sun. This is a wonderful visual double: its brighter component is blood red, and its less bright neighbor (5th magnitude), distant only 3I, is bluish-white, but in contrast to its companion it looks green - a very beautiful combination.

The star Akrab (b Sco) was called by the Greeks Rafias, which means "crab"; it is a bright binary (2.6 and 4.9 magnitude), which can be resolved with a modest telescope. At the tip of the "scorpion's tail" is Shaula (l Sco), translated from Arabic - a sting. Scorpio is home to the most powerful X-ray source of the starry sky, Sco X-1, identified with a hot blue variable star; astronomers believe that this is a close binary system, where a neutron star is paired with a normal one. In Scorpio, open clusters M 6, M 7 and NGC 6231 are visible, as well as globular clusters M 4, 62 and 80.

Sculptor.

Introduced by Lacaille under the name of the Sculptor's Workshop, this southern constellation does not contain bright stars, since it is as far away from the Milky Way as possible - it contains one of the poles of the Galaxy. Therefore, the constellation is mainly interesting for its extragalactic objects. The large magnitude 8 galaxy NGC 55 is almost edge-on; it is one of the closest stellar systems (about 4.2 million light years) outside the Local Group. It belongs to the Sculptor group of galaxies, which also includes spiral systems NGC 253, 300, and 7793 (all in Sculptor), as well as NGC 247 and possibly NGC 45 (both in Whale). The Sculptor group of galaxies, like the M 81 group in Ursa Major, are the closest neighbors of the Local Group of galaxies.

Table Mountain.

This constellation Lacaille named after Table Mountain, located south of Cape Town, on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where Lacaille made his observations. The constellation lies near the south pole of the world. It contains no stars brighter than 5th magnitude (no wonder John Herschel called it "desert"!), But it contains part of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Arrow.

Small graceful constellation between Chanterelle and Eagle. Eratosthenes believed that this was the arrow of Apollo, used by him for revenge on the one-eyed giants, the Cyclops, who gave Zeus lightning, with which he killed Asclepius, the son of Apollo. Among the interesting objects are globular cluster M 71, eclipsing variable U Sge, irregular variable V Sge, and repeated new WZ Sge (flares in 1913, 1946, and 1978).

Sagittarius.

Greek myth connects this zodiacal constellation with the centaur Crotos, an excellent hunter. In the direction of Sagittarius is the center of the Galaxy, located 27 thousand light years from us and hidden behind clouds of interstellar dust. Sagittarius is home to the most beautiful part of the Milky Way, many globular clusters, as well as dark and light nebulae. For example, the Lagoon nebula (M 8), Omega (M 17; other names - Cygnus, Horseshoe), Triple (or Trifid, M 20), open clusters M 18, 21, 23, 25 and NGC 6603; globular clusters M 22, 28, 54, 55, 69, 70 and 75. Many thousands of variable stars have been discovered in this region of the sky. In short, here we admire the very core of our Galaxy. True, only radio, infrared and X-ray telescopes can reach its core, and the optical beam is hopelessly stuck in interstellar dust. However, the same happens in any other direction along the Milky Way, where the gaze of an optical telescope cannot penetrate into intergalactic distances. It is all the more surprising that in 1884 the American astronomer E. Barnard managed to discover in the northeastern part of the constellation, not far from the Milky Way strip, the dwarf galaxy NGC 6822, 1.6 million light years away.

Telescope.

Indeed, without a telescope in this southern constellation you will see little. Its borders seem to be deliberately drawn so as to avoid bright stars. But with a good telescope, there is much to explore. The star RR Tel is quite curious, whose 387-day brightness variability continued even during the period of the nova-like outburst, which began in 1944 and lasted for an unusually long time - 6 years! Perhaps this is a binary system in which a large red star exhibits regular brightness variability, and a compact hot star is responsible for the outbreaks of a nova. Such systems are called "symbiotic stars".

Taurus.

A beautiful winter constellation lying at the intersection of the zodiac with the Milky Way, northwest of Orion. According to the myth, this is a white bull, on which Europe swam across the sea and got to Zeus in Crete.

Taurus has two of the most famous star clusters - the Pleiades and the Hyades. The Pleiades (M 45) are often called the Seven Sisters - this is an amazing open cluster, one of the closest to us (400 sv. Years); it contains about 500 stars, shrouded in a faint nebula. The nine brightest stars, located in a field with a diameter of just over 1 degree, are named after the titan Atlas, the oceanid Pleione and their seven daughters (Alcyone, Asteropa, Maya, Merope, Taygeta, Celeno, Electra). The keen eye discerns 6-7 stars in the Pleiades; together they look like a small scoop. Seeing the Pleiades with binoculars is a great pleasure. In the oldest list of 48 constellations compiled by Eudoxus (IV century BC) and given in the poem of Aratus, the Pleiades are distinguished as a separate constellation.

Even closer to us (150 light years) is the open cluster Hyades, containing 132 stars brighter than magnitude 9 and another 260 weaker possible members. The stars of the Hyades are scattered over a much larger area than the compact Pleiades, so they make less impression. But for astronomical research, Hyades, due to their proximity, is much more important. According to the myth, Hyades are the daughters of Atlas and Ephra; they are half-sisters of the Pleiades.

At the eastern edge of the Hyades lies the bright orange star Aldebaran (a Tau), which is not related to them; in our time it is often called the Voloviy Eye. Its brightness changes from 0.75 to 0.95 magnitude; along with its companion - a red dwarf of magnitude 13 - it is 65 light-years away, i.e. twice as close to us as the Hyades.

The second brightest star in Taurus (b Tau) belongs to the group of "common" stars, since it lies on the border with the neighboring constellation - Auriga. In catalogs published before the beginning of the twentieth century, this bright star, which the Arabs called Nath, was often referred to as g Aurigae. But in 1928, when drawing the boundaries of the constellations, it was "presented" to Taurus. However, even today, on some maps of the starry sky, Nat is included not only in the drawing of Taurus, but also in the drawing of the Charioteer.

A truly famous astrophysical object in Taurus is the supernova remnant of 1054, the Crab Nebula (M 1), located at the edge of the Milky Way, about 1 degree northwest of z Tau. The apparent magnitude of the nebula is 8.4 magnitude. It is 6,300 light years distant from us; its linear diameter is about 6 light years and increases daily by 80 million km. It is a powerful source of radio and X-ray radiation. At the center of the Crab Nebula is a tiny but very hot blue star of magnitude 16; this is the famous pulsar "Crab" - a neutron star that sends out strictly periodic pulses of electromagnetic radiation.

Triangle.

Small constellation southeast of Andromeda. At its western border, spiral galaxy M 33, or the Triangle Nebula (5.7 magnitude) is visible, turned almost flat towards us. Its English nickname Pinwheel is translated as "pinwheel" - a type of gear with rods instead of teeth; it reproduces the apparent shape of the galaxy quite accurately. She, like the Andromeda Nebula (M 31), is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies. Both of them are located symmetrically relative to the star Mirach (b Andromeda), which greatly facilitates the search for the weaker M 33. Both galaxies are approximately the same distance from us, but the Triangle Nebula is a little further, at a distance of 2.6 million light years.

Toucan.

Southern circumpolar constellation. There are no bright stars in it, but in the southernmost part of it you can see the amazing globular cluster 47 Tucana (NGC 104), which has magnitude 4 and is 13 thousand light years distant. Near it is visible a neighboring galaxy - the Small Magellanic Cloud (MMO), a member of the Local Group and, like the LMC, a satellite of our star system, located at a distance of 190 thousand light years.

Phoenix.

This "fireproof bird" is located south of the Sculptor, between Eridan and Crane. 6.5 degrees west of the star a Phe is the star SX Phe - the most famous among the dwarf Cepheids, exhibiting extremely fast brightness fluctuations (7.2-7.8 magnitude) with a period of only 79 minutes 10 seconds.

Chameleon.

A distant southern constellation, not interesting for amateur observers.

Cepheus.

The mythical Ethiopian king Cepheus (or Kefei) was the consort of Cassiopeia and the father of Andromeda. The constellation is not very expressive, but its five brightest stars, located between Cassiopeia and the Head of the Dragon, can be easily found. The north pole of the world is moving towards Cephei due to the precession. The star Alrai (g Cep) will turn out to be "polar" from 3100 to 5100, Alfirk (b Cep) will be closer to the pole from 5100 to 6500, and from 6500 to 8300 the role of the polar one will pass to the star Alderamin (a Cep), which is almost as bright, like the current Polyarnaya.

The bright component of the pretty visual binary d Cep serves as the prototype for pulsating variable Cepheid stars, varying in brightness from 3.7 to 4.5 magnitudes with a period of 5.37 days. The star m Cep in ancient times was called Erakis, and William Herschel called it the Garnet Star, since it is the reddest among the stars of the northern hemisphere accessible to the naked eye.

The star VV Cepheus is an eclipsing binary with a period of 20.34 years; its main component, a red giant 1200 times the diameter of the sun, is arguably the largest star we know of. And the star cluster NGC 188 is one of the oldest (5 billion years) among the open clusters of the Galaxy.

Compass.

Small southern constellation, on the border of which lies a Centaur. And the magnificent visual double a Cir (3.2 + 8.6 magnitude, distance 16І) demonstrates fast small fluctuations in brightness and rare elements in the atmosphere - chromium, strontium and europium.

Watch.

A narrow, long strip south of Eridanus, devoid of bright stars. The star of magnitude 4 R Hor is of interest: it is a Mira with a period of about 408 days, which at its brightness minimum weakens to magnitude 14 (i.e., the light flux from it decreases by a factor of 10 thousand!).

Bowl.

An inconspicuous constellation west of Raven.

Shield.

A small constellation, introduced by Hevelius under the name Sobieski Shield in honor of the famous commander, Polish king Jan Sobieski. Lies in the eastern branch of the Milky Way, north of Sagittarius. There are no bright stars in it. The star d Sct (5th magnitude, period 4.7 hours) serves as an example of short-period pulsating variables. The unusual semi-regular pulsating variable R Sct is similar to both the Cepheids and the long-period red variables - the Mira. The open cluster Wild Duck (M 11) can be observed with a small telescope 2 degrees southeast of b Sct; it contains 500 stars brighter than magnitude 14 and is an astonishing sight.

Eridanus.

This "heavenly river" was identified by different peoples with Euphrates, Nile and Po. In the sky, it begins with the star Kursa (b Eri), which lies slightly west of Rigel in Orion, and "flows" to the west, and then to the south and southwest to the blue giant Achernar (a Eri), which in Arabic is just means "end of the river". An apparent magnitude of 0.5 makes Achernar the ninth brightest star.

At 10.5 light years distant from us, e Eri is the closest solitary solar-type star; but it is slightly less massive and not as hot as the Sun, and it is only about 1 billion years old. However, in the 1960s, it was e Eridani and t Ceti that were considered the most attractive for the search for extraterrestrial civilizations near them. And these hopes are already beginning to come true: astronomers recently discovered that a giant planet with a mass slightly less than that of Jupiter orbits around e Eri with a period of about 7 years. It is likely that over time, Earth-like planets will be found in this system.

The remarkable o 2 Eri triple system consists of a magnitude 4 orange dwarf, a magnitude 9 white dwarf (the only one that can be seen with a small telescope) and a magnitude 11 red dwarf. Among the distant objects, the most perfect example of a crossed spiral is notable - the galaxy NGC 1300.

Southern Hydra.

The southern circumpolar constellation "water snake" is not particularly remarkable. The yellow dwarf b Hyi is similar to the Sun and is only 25 light years distant.

South Crown.

Located between the southern parts of Sagittarius and Scorpio, this small constellation lies entirely in the Milky Way. Interest in it is attracted by the region where bright and dark nebulae are mixed: NGC 6726, 6727 and 6729. The g CrA system is also curious, consisting of two twin stars, very similar to the Sun, separated by an angle of 2I and orbiting with a period of 120 years.

Southern Fish.

Small constellation south of Aquarius and Capricorn. In addition to the bright Fomalhaut (which in Arabic means "fish mouth"), all the other stars in it are very weak.

South Cross.

The smallest of all constellations. It was singled out by Bayer from the constellation Centaurus in 1603, although the first mention of this figure useful for navigators is contained in a letter from Amerigo Vespucci from 1503. The cross lies in the southern part of the Milky Way and ranks first in the number of stars visible to the naked eye per unit area of ​​the constellation. The figure of the Cross is formed by four bright stars: a, b, g and d, with the line from g to a pointing to the south pole of the world.

The amazing double star Acrux (a Cru) contains two components (1.4 and 1.8 magnitudes) at a distance of 4.4І. To the east of it, a dark "hole" is visible against the background of the Milky Way - this is the Coal Sack, one of the closest dark nebulae at a distance of just over 500 light-years. The size of this gas and dust cloud is 70 ґ 60 light years, and in the sky it occupies an area of ​​7 ґ 5 degrees. Next to it is the Box of Diamonds (NGC 4755), a beautiful open cluster named by John Herschel because it contains many brightly colored stars - blue and red supergiants.

Southern Triangle.

This characteristic group of stars was first mentioned in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci, and only a century later it was described by Peter Keizer and Frederic de Houtman. It lies almost entirely in the Milky Way, but contains nothing remarkable.

Lizard.

Located between Swan and Andromeda; It has no bright stars, although its northern part lies in the Milky Way. A very unusual object was found in this constellation in 1929 by the German astronomer Cuno Goffmeister (1892-1968), the founder of the Sonneberg Observatory, who personally discovered about 10 thousand variable stars! Initially, he also took this object for a variable star and designated it as BL Lac. But it turned out that this is a very distant galaxy, with the activity of its core resembling quasars, but unlike them, it does not have lines in the spectrum and demonstrates very strong (up to 100 times) brightness variability. Later, other objects of this kind were discovered; some of them (RW Tau, AP Lib, etc.) were also initially considered variable stars. Astronomers suspect that these are the active nuclei of very large elliptical galaxies. Now objects of this type are called BLACKS.

Vladimir Surdin

Literature:

Ulerich K. Telescope Nights: A Guide to the Starry Sky... M .: Mir, 1965
Ray G. Stars: New outlines of old constellations... Moscow: Mir, 1969
Tsesevich V.P. What and how to observe in the sky... Moscow: Nauka, 1984
Karpenko Yu.A. Starry sky names... Moscow: Nauka, 1985
Siegel F.Yu. Treasures of the Starry Sky: A Guide to the Constellations and the Moon... Moscow: Nauka, 1986
Dagaev M.M. Observing the starry sky... Moscow: Nauka, 1988
Gurshtein A.A. The sky is divided into constellations in the stone age// Nature, no. 9, 1994
Bakich M.E. The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations... Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995
A. V. Kuzmin Star Chronicle of Civilization// Nature, no. 8, 2000
Surdin V.G. Sky... M .: Slovo, 2000
Charugin V.M. Astronomical evenings // I'm going to an astronomy lesson: Starry sky... Moscow: September 1, 2001
A. V. Kuzmin Sacrifice: the sacrament in the mirror of the sky// Nature, no. 4, 2002
Kulikovsky P.G., An amateur's guide to astronomy... M .: URSS, 2002



Resting in the summer far from cities, and especially in the south, where it gets dark early, we suddenly begin to notice the starry sky, which has become so few in cities - due to lighting and clouds. If your children are interested in the constellations in the night sky, the book "Amateur Astronomy" will be very useful: it tells in detail about astronomy and observations that you can do yourself.

Light pollution

Stargazing is becoming more difficult due to street lighting. In cities, only the brightest stars and planets are often visible to the eye, and, of course, the Sun and the Moon. Due to light pollution, today 60% of Europeans and almost 80% of North Americans cannot see the luminous strip of the Milky Way - a projection in the sky of the disk of our Galaxy.

When the electricity went out in 1994 due to an earthquake in Los Angeles, mass reports were sent to the police that some strange "giant silvery cloud" had appeared over the city. It turned out that it was the Milky Way, which had long since disappeared from the bright gray night sky of the metropolis ...

However, on the territory of Russia there are still places where you can see both the Milky Way and 6th magnitude stars. In general, to observe the starry sky, you need to try to drive at least 20-30 km from the city.

The sky seems to us as a huge dome, or rather a sphere. In ancient times it was believed that this is a real transparent solid sphere (or several spheres), and modern astronomers still use the concept of "celestial sphere", meaning an imaginary sphere onto which all visible luminaries are projected.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the division of the sky into constellations has been accepted in science. At present, by the decision of the International Astronomical Union, the sky is divided into 89 sections bearing the names of 88 constellations (two sections belonging to the constellation Serpent are separated by the constellation Ophiuchus). Slightly more than half of them have been known since antiquity and bear mostly mythological names. The rest appeared in the 16th-19th centuries.

Some of the constellations contain noticeable patterns formed by bright stars, in others, an inexperienced observer may not see a single star at all. But the constellations cover the entire area of ​​the sky: there is not a single, even the smallest, area on it that would not be included in some constellation.

For observations, an amateur astronomy needs maps of the starry sky. They come in different types. Some of them show lines connecting the bright stars of the constellations. Such maps are designed to help the novice amateur better navigate the sky.

Other maps do not contain these lines, but they contain the boundaries of the constellations (that is, the portions of the celestial sphere that they occupy), as well as celestial coordinates. They can show stars that are fainter than those visible to the naked eye, as well as nebulae, galaxies and star clusters. Such maps are intended for observations with a telescope or other optical instrument.

It may seem to a beginner that it is very difficult to recognize the constellation figures among the many stars. In addition, many maps of the starry sky distort their outlines due to the specifics of cartographic projections. But in no case should you despair, experience comes with time, and one day, after several unsuccessful attempts, you will see what you were looking for - and you will be surprised how it was possible not to find it for so long ...

Of course, it is better to adhere to a certain algorithm for acquaintance with the constellations, starting with the brightest, most noticeable and famous ones, which can be landmarks and reference points for finding others.

For residents of the Northern Hemisphere, the starting point can be the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major. In mid-latitudes it does not go beyond the horizon, and in the evening its "bucket" of seven stars can be found without much difficulty: in the fall - not high above the northern horizon, in winter - higher, in the northeastern part of the sky, in the spring - high (for Moscow almost at its zenith), in the summer - in the northwest.

Ursa Major serves as an excellent reference point for finding other stars and constellations. The most famous way to find the North Star with it is by continuing the outer side of the "bucket". However, as shown in the diagram, many more constellations can be found with this remarkable star shape.

Starting from the Big Dipper "bucket", you will find the Polar Star and the Ursa Minor constellation, then in their vicinity learn to recognize the constellations Draco, Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Perseus, and after the Bucket will show you directions to the more distant constellations Leo, Bootes, Auriga.

The next step is to find constellations that are visible in the evening in the southern sky during certain seasons of the year. In autumn, the constellations Pegasus and Andromeda stand out, which together also resemble the Bucket, but larger than that of the Big Dipper. Having seen it, you can look for the constellations Aries and Perseus, and then weaker ones: Pisces, Triangle, Whale ...

In the winter sky, the main figure is, of course, Orion with its shining "bow" decorated with bright Betelgeuse and Rigel and the characteristic "belt" of three stars. Continuing this "belt" up and down, we will find other bright stars - Aldebaran from the constellation Taurus and Sirius in the constellation Canis Major. And then you can find the rest of the winter constellations: both noticeable, also containing stars of the first magnitude and brighter (Gemini, Charioteer, Lesser Dog), and dim ones - Unicorn, Hare.

In the spring sky, the main constellation is Leo with bright Regulus. Having found him, it is not difficult then to find other bright luminaries - Arcturus of Bootes and Spica, shining in Virgo. Then you can start looking for the rest, much dimmer constellations - Cancer, Raven, Chalice, Hydra, Lesser Leo, Sextant, Veronica's Hair.

In summer and autumn, three bright stars stand out in the southern part of the sky: Vega, Deneb, Altair. These are the main stars of the constellations Lyra, Cygnus and Eagle, but together they are called the Autumn-Summer Triangle. It is with him that you need to start acquaintance with the summer sky, and then look for the rest of the summer constellations - the Northern Crown, Hercules, Ophiuchus with the Serpent, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Chanterelle, Dolphin, Arrow, Shield ...

On the Internet, you can find online maps of the starry sky, showing its view both at the current moment and at any hour in the past and future.

Optical instruments for astronomical observations

An astronomy lover, if he does not want to limit himself to reading books, watching films and searching for constellations on a map, needs an optical device.

If you have only recently become interested in astronomy and did not have any previous observation experience, the best option for the first instrument for you will not be a large telescope, but binoculars. It is lighter and more compact than a telescope and is perfect for general acquaintance with the sky, the Milky Way, bright nebulae and star clusters, large details on the lunar surface. Comets can also be observed with binoculars.

When buying binoculars, pay attention first of all to its aperture (lens diameter) and magnification. For example, binoculars marked 6x50 are binoculars with an aperture of 50 mm and a magnification of 6x. There are very large binoculars with a high magnification, for example, 20 × 100, but they cannot be used in hand, due to the heavy weight and shaking of the image (trembling in the hands due to heavy binoculars is greatly amplified by high magnification). Therefore, such bulky instruments can only be used with a tripod. The optimal parameters of binoculars for sky surveys and hand-held observations are 7 × 50 or 8 × 56.

Of course, a truly enthusiastic hobbyist is unlikely to limit himself to one pair of binoculars, and the telescope will naturally be the next step.

Amateur telescopes most often belong to the first two types of telescopes that appeared historically - refractors and reflectors. When choosing a telescope, you need, as in the case of binoculars, to clearly understand what you want from it, as well as what you can really expect from it. No telescope, even a large one, will show you such pictures as in the photographs from the Hubble.

Also, think about where you will be making observations. If you live in an area of ​​intense illumination, then a bulky instrument with a large aperture standing on the balcony will still not show you everything that it is capable of, and it will be difficult to transport it outside the city, unlike a more compact one.